
'''"•^^^^P' '""''' ^^ 








THE 



BIG SINDY VALLEY. 



+li^topy oF tlie people §^nd Qounti^y 

I 

PROM THE EARLIEST SETTIJ-MENT 

TO THE 

PRESENT TIME. 

By WILLIAM ELY. 

llla^hpabesl' 



CENTRAL METHODIST, CATLETTSBURG, KY. 
188T. 



.}5s€'^ 



^4 



F^RKKACE. 



Almost all writers of history dwell on the ac- 
tions of men in their collective capacity. They 
describe the political and other machines set up by 
nations, states, or counties. The author ignores 
that method in his book, and chooses to follow fam- 
ilies and single individuals from their entrance into 
the Sandy Valley to ' the end of their career, and 
tell what they have added to the history of the 
country. 

The annals of almost every family noticed in 
this book have been furnished to us by a member 
of the family whose deeds we chronicle. We 
have guessed at nothing; and where necessary to 
give dates, have freely done so. We trust our book 
Avill be a valuable addition to the many books and 
periodicals treating on East Kentucky aifairs, and 
that the people will appreciate our eiforts to keep 
green in the memory of the rising generation the 



4 PREFACE. 

great deprivations which their ancestry were com- 
pelled to undergo in order to rescue the Valley 
from the clutches of wild men and ferocious ani- 
mals, and make it the abode of peace and plenty. 

THE AUTHOR. 
Catlettsburg, Ky. 



/ 



INTRODUCTION. 



I HAVE written the history of the Big Sandy 
Valley and its people with a view of being useful 
in my day and generation, by rescuing from oblivion 
many incidents of great moment, which, unless 
gathered up in book 
form, w^ould be for- 
gotten in this now 
fast, feverish age. 

The history of a 
people is to tell who 
they are, from 
whence they came, 
and their character- 
istics, public acts 
and tendencies. The 
land wearing out in 
the old Colonial 
States, the people 
there began to look 
about for better land and cheaper livings. Ken- 
tucky, once a county of Virginia, was the nearest 
territory of unoccupied land to move to from Vir- 
ginia, part of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the 




WM. ELY, Author of this Book. 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

Carolinas. As early as 1789 the emigrants began 
to come to Sandy, and settle in the valley from 
those States. They knew that mountains and hills 
an'd streams would impede their progress ; it dis- 
mayed them not, for most of them had, from near 
or far, looked upon the craggy peaks of the Alle- 
ghany, Blue Ridge, or Cumberland Mountains. On 
the point of land where the Sandy and Tug form a 
junction was the first settlement attempted, in 1789. 
Soon after, near the mouth of Pigeon, was the 
next; next at Pond Creek, on the Tug. All the 
inhabitants from these places were driven away by 
the Indians. Not until 1790 was it safe to stir up 
the redskins. Block-houses were built by the 
Damrons, and others, near Pikeville ; by others 
near Prater Creek. The Aucstiers, or Auxiers, as 
now Avritten, had built two, near the mouth of John's 
Creek. Over at Licking Station, now Salyersville, 
was a large fortification. At other places on the 
waters of the Sandy, similar forts had been erected 
to protect the early settlers from the tomahawk of 
the Indians. Our old pioneer ancestors were so 
well skilled in the use of the rifle, and were so 
brave, as to make it very hot for any red man to 
show himself in the valley. The Indians ceased 
troubling our forefathers and mothers in 1790, 
while they were murdering the whites, and stealing 
horses in the Scioto Valley as late as 1802. Yet 
game was much more abundant in the Big Sandy 
Valley than in the Scioto. It failed, however, to 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

tempt them over. By 1806 many of the old fami- 
lies, whose descendants are now our foremost peo- 
ple, had taken up their abode in the valley. 

As the reader progresses along in this volume, 
the doings of those pioneers will be chronicled. 
The majority of the early settlers belonged to the 
best families of the older States. They, it is true, 
brought their household goods on the backs of 
horses, for no roads had been opened up. Many 
families brought with them their slaves, and for 
many years after the settlement of the country more 
slaves in proportion to the population were found 
on Sandy than in the Blue Grass region. They 
soon had pay-schools established in every neigh- 
borhood, to teach the young. 

Churches they did not have, nor did they need 
them ; for on large occasions they used the shady 
dells to worship God in, according to the sentiment 
of one of America's great poets, that the woods 
were '' God's first temples.'' They did not forget 
to honor the great Creator, however, in neglecting 
to build churches, for every householder saw to it 
that one room in his great log mansion was dedi- 
cated to the worship of God. And not only did 
they open their houses to the preaching of the 
Word, but one family would often support a big 
meeting of a week's duration, sleeping and feeding 
all who came to worship. This primitive custom 
has not died out yet. Especially does it still pre- 
vail among the primitive Baptists in the Tug 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

Valley, where churclies are few. The early pioneers 
ground their corn on hand-mills, or beat the grains 
to meal in a mortar. They used bear's-oil in place 
of lard to shorten their johnny cakes. It was many 
years before they had much hog-meat or beef; but 
bear, deer, turkeys, and other game and fowls were 
abundant, which more than supplied them with 
meat. Honey was almost as plentiful as sorghum 
is to-day ; and every Spring they made of maple- 
sugar and treacle enough to run them through the 
season. In a word, they lived at the fountain- 
head. The skins of the bear, the deer, buifalo, and 
other fur-bearing animals, aiforded a revenue of 
wonderful proportions, and when the reader takes 
into account the vast sum added by the countless 
wolf-scalps at five dollars apiece, and the ginseng 
crop, he feels that his ancestors were engaged in a 
more lucrative business than saw-logging. As to 
clothes, the thrifty housewife worked up the flax 
and cotton raised by the men, and prepared it for 
clothing for the family, and coverings for the beds, 
as well as table-cloths and towels. Even handker- 
chiefs were woven from the flax, and served on 
many occasions as wedding-gear. Many of the 
men could sport breeches made of dressed deer-skins, 
and shoes made of the same material were found on 
the feet of both sexes. When the wolves became less 
troublesome, sheep were raised, and supplied the 
people with another article of clothing, both for 
man and woman. Every house had a spinning- 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

wheel, a reel, and a loom, and the wholesome dam- 
sels of that day knew well how to use them ; while 
the mother spun the flax and wool into thread, 
the old grandmother knitting the hosiery for the 
family, and the little girls filling the quills. Those 
were busy days. No idlers then. 

The amusements of the people were adequate to 
their wants. House-raisings, log-rollings, corn-husk- 
ings, were engaged in by the men ; wool-pickings 
quiltings, and flax-puUings by the women ; the 
latter participated in by the beaus and lasses. Many 
of those gatherings wound up at night with a play, 
and sometimes with a big dance. 

The morals of the people were good. The men 
were brave, and the women virtuous. That handy 
little imp, the modern pistol, was almost unknown 
then. When men fell out, they generally very 
coolly fought it out with their fists, and ended the 
matter by shaking hands all round. No feuds then. 
Of course many drinkers to excess were found in 
that day, for men everywhere partook of the fiery 
beverage. But intoxication did not prevail as 
alarmingly as it has since the apple has become so 
large a factor in potent drinks on Sandy. We 
should say, however, that a great reformation has 
been going on for twenty years, and the sale of 
liquor is, in the Kentucky counties, outlawed by 
the people. 

Christian progress and esthetic taste bid fair to 
raise the people of the valley to a higher plane than 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

is attained in any other part of the State. The 
somewhat isolated location has kept the valley ex- 
empt from the grosser vices of the age. 
It is a good place to move to. 



The Big Sandy Valley. 



FIRST SETTLEMENT ON SANDY. 

The following certificate so kindly put into the 
author's hands by Mr. Richard F. Vinson and Dr. 
Milton Burns, would at first thought seem to 
leave no doubt that the neck of land lying between 
the Levisa Fork and Tug, in sight of where Louisa 
now stands, was the first place where a permanent 
settlement in the Sandy Valley was attempted to 
be made. The very same year, 1789, the Leslies 
attempted to make a settlement at the mouth of 
Pond Creek, on the Tug River. They, likeVancoover 
and others at the Forks, were driven back by the 
Indians, who were at the time prowling around in 
the valley. 

The Leslies returned in 1791, but instead of 
stopping at Pond, they went on to John's Creek, 
and formed what to this day is known as the Leslie 
Settlement. The Leslies must have been the 
earliest permanent settlers in the Sandy Valley, yet 
immediately after their coming, the Damrons, the 
Auxiers, the Browns, of Johnson ; the Marcums, on 
Mill Creek ; the Hammonds, the Weddingtons, the 
Pinsons, Justices, Walkers, Morgans, Grahams, 

11 



12 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Williamsons, Marrs, Mayos, Lackeys, Hagers, 
Laynes, Borders, Prestons, and others, followed 
closely on their trail. 

AFFIDAVIT OF JOHN HANKS. 

I WAS employed by Charles Vancoover in the month of 
February, 1789, along with several other men, to go to the 
forks of Big Sandy River, for the purpose of settling, clear- 
ing, and improving the Vancoover tract, situated on the point 
formed by the junction of the Tug and Levisa Forks, and 
near where the town of Louisa now stands. In March, 1789, 
shortly after Vancoover and his men had settled on the said 
point, the Indians stole all their horses but one, which they 
killed. We all, about ten in nupaber, except three or four of 
Vancoover's men, remained there during that year, and left the 
next March, except three or four men left to hold possession. 
But they were driven off in April, 1790, by the Indians. Van- 
coover went East in May, 1789, for a stock of goods, and re- 
turned in the Fall of the same year. We had to go to the 
mouth of the Kanawha River, a distance of eighty-seven 
miles for corn, and no one was settled near us ; probably the 
nearest was a fort about thirty or forty miles away, and this 
was built may be early in 1790. The fort we built consisted 
of three cabins and some pens made of logs, like corn-cribs, 
and reaching from one cabin to the other. 

We raised some vegetables and deadened several acres 
of ground, say about eighteen, on the point, but the horses 
being stolen, we were unable to raise a crop. 

[Signed,] John Hanks. 

This deposition was taken in 1838, the deponent 

being in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 

PIONEER CLOTHING. 
What did they wear eighty years ago in the 
valley? The men wore buckskin breeches and 
hunting-shirts of same material, home-made linen 



WHAT DID THE PEOPLE EAT f 13 

or cotton shirts made by their wives and daughters. 
They generally wore moccasins made of buifalo 
hide. Their hats were either made by a local hat- 
ter out of the abundance of fur at hand, or made 
at home out of fur skins. 

The ladies of the valley dressed well and com- 
fortably in those good old days. They spun and 
wove the cotton and flax into cloth for the family 
wear, out of which they made handsome dresses 
and other female wear. They bleached the cloth at 
the spring branch until it was spotless white. An- 
other part they would color with barks, and make 
the most handsome stripes. And Avhen made up 
in the latest style of that day, and worn by 
the belles, the beaux were as much struck with 
the beautiful decoration of their sweethearts, as 
the beaux of to-day are when their girls appear 
in silk. Sometimes they wore deer-skin slippers, 
which were very nice. The old men who linger 
behind say that the women not only dressed com- 
fortably, but looked handsome in their home- 
made wear. 

WHAT DID THE PEOPLE EAT? 

This question is sometimes asked at the present 
time. Their bill of fare was a very good one. A 
more tempting one could hardly, to-day, be fur- 
nished by the best livers on Sandy. Bear-meat 
boiled, or roasted before the fire, or on wooden bars 
over a furnace made for the purpose. Venison 



14 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

broiled on the coals, or boiled and eaten cold. 
Pheasants hung up before the fire and roasted to a 
fine brown. Johnnycake made of corn-meal beaten 
in mortars or ground on hand-mills, shortened with 
bear-fat, Avith some stewed dried pumpkin put in 
the dough. Wild honey in the comb, or strained ; 
maple molasses in abundance in its season, and 
plenty of maple-sugar to sweeten their spice or other 
domestic tea. Huckleberries, services, and other 
wild fruit as relishes. The epicure of to-day would 
delight in such a meal. 

Hog-meat and beef soon followed along, with a 
little flour, and after 1820 coifee was used quite 
often. The old pioneer did not lack for plenty to 
eat, and that of the best. 

THE STORE DRESS. 

An elderly lady living on Peter Creek, in Pike 
County, related to us an incident in which her 
grandmother, when a young lady, Avas one of the 
actors. She and a young lady friend were the first 
in the settlement, seventy-five years ago, to own a 
store dress each, and a pair of store shoes. The 
goods was of the brightest colors, and made in hand- 
some style, ready for the approaching Sunday relig- 
ious service in the neighborhood. 

The young ladies all rigged out in their showy 
gowns, with shoes and stockings in hand, when 
Sunday morning came, started on foot to meeting. 
On their journey they came across a herd of cattle 



THRILLING ADVKNTURE. 15 

browsing on the pea-viue. One of the beasts, catch- 
ing a glimpse of the girls' new gowns, became 
frantic with fright, which was communicated to the 
whole drove, and they scampered away with the 
velocity of a train on a railroad. The cattle had 
never seen any calico before. 

THRILLING ADVENTURE. 

About the time the Leslies came to the valley, 
say 1790, Charles and Emla Millard, the former the 
grandfather and the latter the gi'and-uncle of A. J. 
Millard, of Big Creek, came down on Tug from 
Clinch River to hunt bear and deer for their pelts. 
They encountered a roving band of Indians, who 
showed fight. Emla getting behind a tree, with the 
river between him and the redskins, placed his hat 
on a bush so concealed by the undergrowth of pea- 
vine that the Indians fired several shots into the 
hat, thinking it was on a man's head, Millard hal- 
loed over to them to come out from behind the 
timber, as he had done. While one of the savages 
was on his all-fours, peering out, Millard fired, strik- 
ing him on the hips, and with a yell he fell dead ; the 
other Indians scampered oif. Millard went over and 
found a horn full of powder and pouch full of balls ; 
retracing his steps, he and his brother made off up 
the river. When they came to John's Creek they 
found it overflowing its banks, but plunged in, and 
being laden down with deer and bear skins, Charles 
was drowned. His body was never found. A 



16 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY, 

creek which empties into John's Creek at the place 
where Charles Millard was drowned, is to this day 
called Miller\s Creek, the d being left out. 

BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

This valley is one hundred and fifty miles 
from north to south, and about eighty miles wide, 
on an average, from east to west ; in area as large as 
some of the prosperous Northern States. It is drained 
by the Big Sandy River, or as is now sometimes called 
the Chatterawha, with its Levisa and Tug Forks, 
and their numerous tributaries. Both these rivers 
rise in south-west Virginia, twenty miles or less 
apart, both flowing almost directly north on parallel 
lines of from twenty-five to forty miles apart, until 
near their junction, twenty-five miles from the Ohio, 
where they unite and flow on to the Ohio in one 
stream. The Sandy and Tug Rivers are fed by 
numerous tributaries, some of which are in size 
and volume of water carried ofl", sufiicient to be 
known as rivers, rather than creeks. Among the 
principal tributaries of the Sandy may be mentioned 
the Blaine, which heads in Elliott and Morgan 
Counties, Kentucky, and flows in a north-easterly 
direction, and enters the Sandy eighteen miles from 
its mouth. Its length is seventy-five miles. 

Paint Creek heads in Morgan County, Kentucky, 
runs thirty miles east, and empties its turbid waters 
into the Sandy at Palntsville, sixty miles from the 
Ohio. Paint is a short but a broad, deep stream, 



BIG SANDY VALLEY. 17 

iiiFording water enough to float out great rafts of 
logs from very near its head. 

John's Creek is a stream more than a hundred 
miles long ; heads up near the sources of the Big 
Sandy and Tug, between the two, and runs nearly 
equal distance, parallel with them, and empties into 
the Sandy eight miles above the mouth of Paint 
Creek. 

Beaver is a long straight stream, indeed quite a 
river, heading in Knott and Letcher Counties, 
Kentucky, running north-east on a very straight line 
into the Sandy, twenty miles above John's Creek. 
Shelby rises in Letcher and Pike, and is a stream 
like all previously named, capable of floating 
large rafts. It flows into the Sandy River above 
Pikeville. 

Rock Castle and Wolf Creeks empty their waters 
into the Tug River from the western side, both 
rising in the same section, but flowing apart. The 
Rock Castle joins the Tug eight miles above its 
mouth, while Wolf makes a short cut and plunges 
into the same stream forty miles above. Pond is a 
short but powerful water-way, heading in Pike 
County, and emptying into the Tug fifteen or so 
miles above Wolf. Peter Creek, above on the same 
side, is quite a stream. From the east side of Tug 
River is Pigeon, Sycamore, and others, to say 
nothing of the almost countless smaller creeks 
and creeklets which help to swell the tide of the 
Sandy and Tug Rivers from south-east and west. 



18 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

This system of water-ways drains a part or all of 
the counties of Boyd, Lawrence, Elliott, Morgan, 
Magoffin, Martin, Floyd, Johnson, Pike, Perry, and 
Knox, in Kentucky ; and Wise, Dickinson, Taze- 
well, and Russell, in Virginia; and McDowell, 
Wyoming, Logan, and Wayne, in West Virginia. 
The bottom or level lands on the two large rivers 
widen out in some j^laces more than a half mile. 
The soil is a rich sandy loam, as productive as are 
the Ohio bottom-lands. Most of the tributaries 
are equally rich in soil, while, if possible, the cove 
lands, Avhich are always abundant in a hilly coun- 
try, interspersed with so many streams like the 
Sandy Valley, are still more productive. 

The bottom and cove lands produce heavy crops 
of grain, tobacco, and meadow-grasses, while the 
hillside lands serve well in grass, grain, and fruit, 
of nearly every species peculiar to a north-temper- 
ate latitude. In early day this valley was the great 
center of the ginseng industry, and while not so 
abundant as formerly, it is yet found in considerable 
quantities. Other medical roots abound. Wild and 
domesticated bees find a congenial home here, 
making honey and- beeswax, articles amounting to 
great value. Fur skins add much to the wealth of the 
people. Poplar, oak, cherry, walnut, sugar, beach, 
hickory, linden, sycamore, and other timber, abound 
in every valley, cove, and mountain-side. 



NAVIGATION. 19 

NAVIGATION. 

The Big Sandy River is navigable for steam- 
boats to PikevillCj one hundred and five miles, 
the Tug River for ninety miles, making nearly two 
hundred miles of navigable waters; whilst, in ad- 
dition to this, the tributaries named in this chapter, 
and some short ones not mentioned, are navigable 
for rafts of logs and other timber and lumber for 
at least nine hundred miles more, making a total of 
more than a thousand miles of navigation, center- 
ing at the mouth of the Sandy, or Catlettsburg. 
This valley has a peculiar topographical formation. 
Could one stand on some commanding height and 
look down upon the valley, it would appear in 
shape like a great oval basin, the southern end rest- 
ing at the base of the Cumberland Mountains, the 
northern dipping into the Ohio River at Catletts- 
burg, while on the east the mountains of Virginia 
and West Virginia raise their tall peaks as a wall 
of adamant, while the hills of east Kentucky, 
covered in living green, form its western boundary, 
thus compelling an outlet, and an only outlet, at the 
mouth of the Sandy River, and head of the valley. 

On the main streams and tributaries of the 
Sandy Valley, especially in the upper part ot it, 
quite a considerable population had gone in from 
North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, long be- 
fore Shortridge, David Whi4e, or the Hamptons had 
settled at or near the Mouth. They had brought their 



20 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

domestic stock with them, and some also their negro 
slaves, and commenced opening up the county to 
civilization before scarcely any thing had been done 
lower down the valley. The Auxiers, Meads, 
Staffords, Borders, Williamsons, Strattons, Leslies, 
Ratcliifs, Lackeys, Osburns, Prestons, Cecils, Por- 
ters, Hatchers, Laynes, Weddingtons, Friends, Hat- 
fields, Marcums, Runyons, Justices, Prestons, Por- 
ters, Brewers, Fulkersons, McDowells, Clarks, Goifs, 
Garrards, Browns, Dixons, Maguires, Grahams, 
Morgans, Robinsons, Belchers, Bevins, Walkers, 
Mayos, Hagers, Millards, Stumps, and others, were, 
some of them, much earlier than David White, 
at the Mouth in 1798. 

With such a vast country, and with a growing 
population with productions to sell and wants to 
supply, it is reasonable to suppose that the people 
of the valley in that early day were put to great 
inconveniences in exchanging their products for the 
necessaries and comforts of life. They of course had 
to go to the Mouth to make the exchange. But even 
there they found no store at which to trade, but with 
their crude push-boat or canoe laden with the 
fruits of their toil, had to continue on three miles 
further to Burlington, or down to Limestone ; 
or they could sometimes get an entire outfit of 
Joseph Ewing, who commenced store-keeping in 
1815 or 1816, one- fourth of a mile above the Mouth 
of Sandy, in Virginia. These drawbacks existed to 
annoy and embarrass the old-time settlers of the 



NAVIGATION, 21 

valley, until Williams and Catlett opened out a 
large store just in front of where G. W. Andrews 
& Sons' large brick now stands. From this time 
onward, embryo Catlettsburg increased in trade and 
commercial importance, until it is now, 1886, 
reckoned in commercial circles as the most thriving 
emporium of East Kentucky. 

From 1815 to 1834, the greatest competitor, with 
merchants at Burlington and Limestone, and at or 
near the Mouth of Sandy, was Frederick Moore, 
who stopped much of the up Sandy trade at the 
Forks by buying produce, and furnishing supplies 
from his large store. 

Now, in 1886, Catlettsburg has a population of 
three thousand souls, with large wholesale stores 
and growing industries, w^hile Burlington contains 
a population of less than two hundred, living prin- 
cipally off the product of their gardens and fruit- 
trees. Frederick Moore got quite wealthy, but much 
of it was made by dealing in Catlettsburg real estate. 

In 1830 the vast forests of timber in the valley had 
no real value attached to it. This year, 1887, more 
than a million dollars' worth has been sold to dealers 
at Catlettsburg, or passed on to cities below. In 1830 
the existence of stone-coal was almost unknown. 
Now long trains of cars pass out on the Chatterawha 
road daily, laden with the best of coal from the 
Peach Orchard mines, fifty miles up the valley. 

Salt springs abound in every county in the val- 
ley, and salt has been made from the water of these 



22 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

springs from the earliest settlement of the country 
until the present time. 

COAL-OIL. 

Petholeum has been known to exist in the 
valley for fifty years. Since 1865 many wells have 
been bored to bring up from the caverns below the 
oleaginous fluid. In many places oil of the best 
quality has been ^^ struck/' but so far not in paying 
quantities. Scientists say, however, that when the 
proper level is struck, oil will be found in vast 
quantities. In boring for oil at Warfield, in Martin 
County, some fifty-seven miles from Catlettsburg, 
on the Tug River, a trunk of gas shot up with the 
sound of thunder, and throwing out a light in all 
directions for many miles around, which at night 
enables people to read without the aid of any other 
light. 

The gas here, if utilized, would run all the ma- 
chinery of the manufactories from Catlettsburg to 
Louisville, including Cincinnati. Salt in great 
abundance was made at Warfield previous to the 
war by Governor Floyd, of Virginia, and since 
then by Colonel Barrett, the present proprietor 
there. The gas would furnish fuel so cheap that 
salt could be made here as cheaply as at any point 
in the Ohio Valley. 

POTTER'S CLAY. 
Potter's clay of the finest quality is found in 
several places in the valley, especially in Boyd 



PIONEER PREACHELS. 23 

County. lu 1847 ah English company bought sev- 
eral thousand acres of land on the bank of the 
Sandy, two miles above the mouth, for the purpose 
of erecting potteries to turn out the finer grades of 
cupboard ware. Some of the clay found here was 
sent to England and made into cups and saucers, 
and several sets of them, sent to the vicinity 
of Catlettsburg soon after, in quality compared 
favorably with the best of China ware. Those 
named, with other valuable minerals found in the 
valley, added to those already noted, together 
with the vast timber supply, to say nothing of the 
fine lands and genial climate, with few changes, are 
destined to make the Big Sandy Valley one of the 
most prosperous countries in the Central West. 

PIONEER PREACHERS. 
Of the early preachers of the Sandy Valley, 
Eev. Marcus Lindsay made a more lasting impres- 
sion than any other who went before or followed 
after him. He was a Methodist divine of great 
talent and culture. For four years he, as presiding 
elder, w^ent up and down the valley proclaiming the 
Gospel, with an eloquence of irresistible power. 
Many gray -haired men now living wear his honored 
name. Mr. Lindsay traveled the Sandy district 
about the time of 'the War of 1812. After Mr. 
Lindsay, Rev. William B. Landrum was the most 
noted. He commenced his ministerial career on 
Sandy much later; not, indeed, until .1834. He 



24 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

was no great preacher, but a very useful, popular 
one. He married more j^eople than any man of his 
time in the Sandy Valley. Bishop Kavanaugh 
preached much in his younger days in the lower 
part of the valley, and the great Bascom has held 
spell-bound Sandy audiences. 

Of lay, or local preachers — 

Rev. R. D. Callihan, now an octogenarian, of 
Ashland, Ky., has been longer in the service than 
any other, being sixty years an active preacher of 
the Word. 

Rev. James Pelphrey, of Johnson County, and 
Rev. Wallace Bailey, of Magoffin County, Baptist 
preachers, have each been preaching near sixty 
years. The latter died in 1885. 

Revs. John Borders, Benjamin P. Porter, Andrew 
Johnson, George W. Price, and Goodwin Lycans, of 
the same Church, served long and faithfully in the 
ministry ; but those of them now living are too far 
advanced in years to be very active in the ministry. 

But we must not fail to give a brief notice of 
two of the most prominent and useful men of that 
early age — the brothers Spurlock, Burwell and 
Stephen. While not living immediately in the val- 
ley, yet they were only a short distance away, on 
the Twelve Pole, and they made frequent visits up 
and down the valley, preaching as they went. 
They were men highly gifted, of great power in the 
pulpit, and were loved by all. Burwell Spurlock 
was one of the greatest reasoners of his time, and 



TEACHERS OF EARLY DAYS. 25 

was authority upon Bible exegesis. Stephen, while 
not so clear as a reasoner, was, perhaps, more pow- 
erful in his appeals to the people. They were true 
yoke-fellows in the Gospel, and were enshrined in 
the hearts of the people ; they were connected Avith 
the Methodist Church. 

A man of wonderful power in the pulpit was 
Rev. Philip Strother, who preached in the valley 
for many years. He had a most captivating voice, 
was a man of true eloquence, and had superior de- 
scriptive powers. He was greatly loved by the 
people, and his name is worthily perpetuated in his 
gifted son, Hon. Joseph Strother, at this time judge 
of the county court of Carter County. He was an 
old-time Methodist, and did much to make that 
Church the power for good it has been and is in 
all that section. 

A man of the most marked peculiarities in the 
ministry was Rev. Henry Dixon, of the Baptist 
Church. He was a fine fiddler, and in his old days 
always took his fiddle with him to Church, carrying 
his Bible under one arm and his fiddle under the 
other. He would introduce the service by playing 
several tunes, and then close in the same way. The 
novelty of such service always attracted the people, 
and the old man always gave them wholesome advice. 

TEACHERS OF EARLY DAYS. 

Joseph West taught school from Prestonburg 
down to the mouth of Tug. He has been a teacher for 



26 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

fifty-five years, and now, 1887, is still handling the 
rod. He lives in Martin County, and is greatly 
respected. 

Lewis Mayo, Esq., was a teacher of great learn- 
ing and ability. He commenced teaching in 1837, 
and kept schools of high grade for twenty-five 
years. He was a noble Christian gentleman. He 
died near the close of the Civil War. 

James McSorley taught county schools for forty 
years in the Lower Sandy Valley. 

M. T. Burriss, now of Rockville, is one of the 
old-time teachers of the valley. He was raised on 
John's Creek, in the Leslie settlement. 

Prof. Wm. N. Randolph, of Paintsville, reaches 
back to the days of bear and wolves, when he first 
took up the ferule to teach young ideas to shoot. 
He is still at it. 

William Murphy, of near Catlettsburg, taught 
county schools twenty-five years. He died in 1877. 

Charles Grim, of Johnson County, was an old- 
time teacher for many years, and being a very small 
man, always had to surrender to the boys on Christ- 
mas, according to the custom of those pioneer days. 
The rule then was, " Treat or be ducked,^' the treat 
consisting of not less than one bushel of apples. 

SALT SPRINGS AND WELLS. 

That salt water abounds in every section of 
the Sandy Valley is a fact well known from the 
earliest times until now. Henry Clay, the great 



SALT SPRINGS AND WELLS. 27 

orator, in partnership with John Breckinridge, 
the grandfather of General John C. Breckinridge, 
owned a large boundary of land on Middle Creek, 
Floyd County, Kentucky, ten miles from Preston- 
burg, where the earliest salt-works in the valley 
existed. Salt was made here in 1795, and almost con- 
tinuously until some time after the great war closed. 
The original owners disposed of their title to the 
land for a mere trifle, and the Harrises, the Hamil- 
tons, and others, worked the w^ells, sometimes on a 
small and sometimes on a large scale. During the 
war, the salt made at the Middle Creek wells sold 
on the ground for two and three dollars a bushel. 
The wells are now in repose, awaiting enterprise to 
work them again. 

At Warfield, on Tug River, some sixty miles 
above Catlettsburg, great quantities of salt have been 
made, both before and since the termination of the 
war. The works Avere first started by Governor 
John B. Floyd & Brothers, of Tazewell County, 
Virginia. They built up quite a little toAvn there, 
and made great calculations to enlarge the works ; 
but the war coming on. Governor Floyd, the prime 
mover in the industry, went away, leaving in charge 
agents to look after the welfare of the property 
until his return. But going into the Southern 
army as a general, he went down amid the clash of 
arms, and never returned to Warfield. Salt could 
be made there now at a small cost ; for a company, 
on boring for oil, at about a thousand feet, struck 



28 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

an inexhaustible supply of gas, which is still burn- 
ing, although several years have passed since it was 
developed. It lights the country for miles around 
with a more dazzling light than could be done with 
millions of jets of artificial gas. We say that it is 
inexhaustible, because General George Washington, 
when making his wonderful survey up the Tug 
River, says, in his Field Notes, when at the point 
opposite where Warfield now stands, that he found 
a burning spring bubbling up out of the water. 
This was in 1766. Salt can be made from the salt 
water in every county in the valley, which has been 
done in seasons of extreme low water in the river, 
preventing merchants from keeping a full supply 
on hand. 

Near the mouth of Blaine, on the Virginia side 
of the river, salt in considerable quantities was 
made as far back as 1813. Judge Robert B. 
McCalPs father was engaged at that place in boiling 
salt, as were his grandfather on the maternal side. 
McSorley, the father of John McSorley, Avas the 
clerk and store-keeper at the same time. He after- 
wards went to teaching, which he followed the re- 
mainder of his life, which terminated some years ago. 



THE MOORE FAMILY. 

Frederick Moore, the founder of the house 
of that name in the Sandy Valley, was of Teutonic 
origin, his ancestors coming to Philadelphia or its 



THE MOORE FAMILY. 



29 



vicinity before the Eevolution. When qnite a 
young man he married a Miss Van Horn^ sister of 
John Van Horn, so well and favorably known 
among the old 
settlers of the 
Lower Sandy 
Valley. Soon af- 
ter, or perhaps 
before, his mar- 
riage with Miss 
Van H o r n, he 
established a nail 
factory in the 
city of Philadel-; 
phia, AV o r k i n g: 
twenty-five o p- 
eratives. This 
was before cut- 
nails were made. 
This plant of Mr. 
Moore's was equal 
to one now working four hundred men. The War 
of 1812 coming on, played sad havoc with the- 
young man's business ; it broke it entirely up. 
But young Moore, true to the instincts of his race, 
did not sit down and lament his lot, but saved the 
remnant left of his hard earnings, and with the 
money bought a stock of goods, hired the late John 
Van Horn, whose sister he had several years pre- 
viously married, to clerk for him, left his wife and 




FKED. MOORE. 



30 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

their two children (Sarah, afterwards Mrs. Poage, and 
later Mrs. Savage, a little girl of two years ; and 
Frances, afterwards Mrs. William T. Nichols, then 
a young infant) with relatives in the East, and 
started with the goods for the " Forks '^ of the 
Sandy, then six years before Louisa was a town, 
which place he reached in 1815. He bought a 
large tract of land, including the plat on which the 
beautiful town of Louisa now stands, but added to 
his possessions a much larger boundary on the op- 
posite side of the river, taking in the land on w^hich 
now stands the town of Cassville, West Virginia, 
but then Virginia. 

Mr. Moore, soon after his arrival, found him- 
self at the head of a most extensive and prosperous 
mercantile business, the principal articles of traffic 
being in that root so highly prized by the Celes- 
tials, ginseng, and fur skins. 

In 1818, after an absence of three years, he sent 
on to Philadelphia for his wife and two little 
daughters, to come on and occupy the comfortable 
home he had provided for them, one-half mile be- 
low the " Forks,'^ on the Virginia side. The wife 
and children found no palace cars, as now, to jour- 
ney in to reach their future home, but endured 
many discomforts and tedious delays in making the 
long journey. At length the mouth of the Sandy 
River was reached, and the tired mother, with her 
two little daughters, Avas safely resting at the Cat- 
lett House, the Alger of that day, at the " Mouth.'' 



THE MOORE FAMILY. 31 

When tea was spread^ and the gnests all seated 
ronnd the festal board, a langh rang out from all 
at the innocent remark of little Sarah, who told 
the servant, who passed her the bread made of 
Indian meal, that she did not eat '^ chicken-feed/' 
This was the first corn-bread the little girl had ever 
seen, and she insisted on being supplied with bread. 
After resting a night, the mother and children 
went on board of a packet bound for the noted 
^^ Forks,^^ twenty-five miles above. The packet was 
nothing more nor less than a push-boat, like one 
sees to-day. The boat was manned by several 
stalwart Sandy giants, all under the control of the 
now venerable William Biggs, but at that far back 
time not yet out of his teens. The refined, gentle- 
manly bearing of Captain William Biggs at once 
made Mrs. Moore his friend, which was shared by 
all the Moore and Biggs family in after life. Mrs. 
Moore was the only lady passenger aboard the boat. 
When time came on to prepare for dinner, the cap- 
tain blush ingly asked his lady passenger if she 
would lend a helping hand in getting up the noon- 
day meal. The scene at the hotel, the evening be- 
fore, had convinced the young navigator that noth- 
ing but wheaten bread would be permissible to set 
before such a lady as he, by his own native instinct 
of gentility, knew his passenger to be. He had 
more than one man aboard who prided himself on 
getting up the best of ^' corn-dodgers ^' or ^^johnny- 
cakes,'' but flour to them was as unknown as was 



32 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

iHclian meal to Mrs. Moore and children. They 
had the bliss of eating flour-bread at weddings, and 
once or twice at a ^^ hoe-down •/' but how it was 
made was beyond their culinary knowledge. . 

Mrs. Moore at once proceeded to take her first 
lesson in bread-making. In her country men 
baked the bread in large clay ovens ; the higher 
class of ladies, to which Mrs. Moore, 7iee Van Horn, 
belonged, never. When the viscous dough stuck 
with pertinacity to her tapering fingers, she lost all 
patience, and asked the bewildered young captain 
to help her out of the sad predicament her effort to 
be useful had brought on. Captain Biggs hastily 
dipped a gourd of water from the river, and poured 
the liquid upon her outstretched hands, and soon 
her spirits revived as she saw no permanent harm 
was done. 

The little craft soon reached the '^ Forks,^' and 
the Moores were settled in their home, which in 
after years was to be visited by as many (if not 
more) distinguished people as that of any home- 
stead in the valley. Mr. Moore prospered as mer- 
chant, tanner, saddler, shoemaker, and farmer, and 
for a short time distiller, but abandoned the latter 
as soon as he saw the evil effects the poisonous 
liquid had upon the community. 

In 1821 Louisa was made the capital of the 
new county of Lawrence, and the people of to-day 
owe Mr. Moore a debt of gratitude for the large- 
sized lots, the broad avenues and streets, which 



THE MOORE FAMILY. 33 

make Louisa the beautiful little city it is. He 
built a number of large brick edifices^ that even 
shame some of the buildings erected long since. 
Mr. Moore was not only a close, compact business 
man J but Avas equally a public-spirited citizen. 

One great reason of the financial success that 
fell to Mr. Moore's lot may be attributed to the 
fact that while a strict party man, a Whig, he 
let office-seeking severely alone. Yet several offices 
were forced upon him — colonel of the militia, 
magistrate of his district, delegate in the Legisla- 
ture — trusts that he filled with great acceptability 
to his constitutents in Virginia. He not only had 
every one of his numerous children well educated, 
sending them from home, at great expense, to sem- 
inaries or colleges, to take on the finishing touch, 
but he did much to promote education for the poor 
of his section. 

The old red mansion of the Moore\s was the 
stopping-place of all Methodist preachers as long as 
it was occupied by the family ; besides great states- 
men and lawyers were frequent guests. Mr. and 
Mrs. Moore never failed to liberally supply the 
wants of the sick poor for miles around with 
dainties from their well-supplied larder. Three 
sons and six daughters made happy the Moore 
household. The mother and daughters were zealous 
Church members and Christians. The sons in- 
clined the same way. The father never subscribed 
to any religious formula, but he acted like a Chris- 



34 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 

tian, in visiting the sick and administering to their 

needs, helping the widow and orphan, assisting in 

their support, and visiting the prisoner in jail. 

This great and good man died, aged ninety-two 

years, in 1874. His noble wife followed him in 1881, 

at the age of eighty-six. They not only left to their 

children a large material inheritance, bnt their 

noble example for good during a long, well-spent 

life, 

Mr. Moore was at heart opposed to slavery ; but 

as he grew rich, slaves fell to his ownership. They 
were treated with great humanity. The chief man- 
servant, James Brown, or Uncle Jim, never left the 
family, but clung to the younger generation of 
Moores until the day of his death, which occurred 
in 1885, aged near one hundred years. When Mr. 
Moore and wife grew too frail longer to continue 
at the head of the household, the sons and daughters 
agreed that the good old servant should never want 
for any comfort as long as he lived. They kept 
the vow, and when he died they gave his remains 
a Christian burial, and wept at his departure. 
" Uncle Jim " was a sincere Christian. 

Ben Burk, a great admirer of Frederick Moore, 
told the author that once a great scarcity of food 
prevailed in the latter's neighborhood, and that he 
could not bear to hear of the cries of distress com- 
ing up from the poor people around him, and 
handed out meat with such a lavish hand, to ap- 
pease their hunger, and that without price, that his 



COLONEL L. T. MOORE. e35 

wife had to lock the meat-house door to keep her 
benevolent husband from giving away the last joint 
of bacon on the place. 

He had a great respect for preachers, and would 
notify his hands and servants, when one came to 
the house, that, he being a minister, they must use 
no improper language in his hearing. While one 
of these gentlemen of the cloth was visiting at the 
Moore mansion one day, a hand on the place used 
profane language, which so offended Mr. Moore 
that he rebuked the man in similar language, and 
called the preacher aside and begged not to blame 
him or any of his family for the man's rudeness. 

Mr. and Mrs. Moore gave to the world nine 
children, three sons and six daughters. They have 
all borne aloft, unsullied, the Moore- Van Horn 
escutcheon, and, like their parents before them, are 
first-class citizens, and respected for their many vir- 
tues. W. F. Moore, the oldest son, is a man of 
extensive reading, and is one of the most scientific 
farmers of Boyd County. The youngest son and 
child, Frederick Moore, Jr., is, like his oldest 
brother, a farmer also, but lives in Lawrence 
County. His only marriageable daughter is the 
wife of a noted physician of West Virginia. 

COLONEL L. T. MOORE, 

While not the oldest of the family, is, in conse- 
quence of his great ability as a leading lawyer, not 
only in the valley but in the State, and being a 



36 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

public man of high repute^ nominally, at least, the 
leader of the family of Moores in the valley. He 
was educated at Marietta College, and became a 
lawyer, opening an office at Louisa when admitted 
to the bar, soon after he had reached his majority. 
About this time he married a daughter of Colonel 
John Everett, of Guyandotte, Va., a lady of rare 
beauty of person and accomplishments of mind. 
He took high rank as a lawyer from the start, and 
gained in popularity with the people, owning to his 
fervid eloquence and warm friendships. 

His friends at Louisa urged him to make a race 
for the Legislature on the Whig ticket. He con- 
sented, on condition that his chief issue should be, 
if elected, to urge the passage of an act establishing 
normal schools in the State to train young men and 
women for teachers. One St. Clair Roberts, a man 
of great popularity at the time, possessing an im- 
placable will, yet destitute of the common rudiments 
of an education, was nominated by his party to run 
against Moore. Fortified by his own ignorance, he 
appealed to the people not to squander their taxes 
on such nonsense, and defeated the man who was 
the people's real friend. 

In 1859 Mr. Moore was nominated by the Whig 
party of the Old Ninth District for a seat in Con- 
gress. He made a brilliant and successful race 
against William Moore, or Billy, as his friends 
called him, who was the nominee of the Democ- 
racy. Billy Moore was not only a man of talent, 



COLONEL L. T. MOORE. 37 

but was a wily politician, while Laban T. Moore 
was unknown to most of the people of the district 
except in his own county ; yet before he had gotten 
half over the district, in a joint debate with his able 
competitor, he had convinced all who heard him 
that he was not only a young man of brilliant en- 
dowments, but Avas an orator of great ability. He 
Avas elected by two hundred and forty-six majority, 
and, soon after the result was known, his friends in 
Mason County donated the largest steer in their 
county to be barbacued in honor of the young 
mountaineer's election. The gathering took place 
at Catlettsburg, where people from all parts of the 
district attended. The great ox was roasted by 
John F. Faulkner, an old barbacuist, still living, as 
lively as ever. The dell where the monster meeting 
was held is still known as the Moore Barbacue- 
ground. 

The Congress in which he served was a stormy 
one, just on the eve of the Civil War; but he bore 
himself with manly fortitude against the shafts of 
hate from both sections, and, while a Southern man 
by instinct and in feeling, Avhen the final hour came 
to break up the Union of the Fathers, he spoke out 
in thunder-tones against it, and declared himself 
a Union man. In the Spring of 1861 he came 
home and made speeches in advocacy of the old 
Government; and in the Fall of the same year, 
with William Vinson, L. J. Hampton, and others, 
was instrumental jn getting into service the 14th 



38 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

Kentucky Regiment. He was its first colonel, 
but soon resigned, to make place for one he 
thought better qualified to lead the troops to vic- 
tory. He was a Union man during the war, but 
freely criticised the methods of carrying on the war. 
He voted for McClellan in 1864. 

In 1863 he moved to Catlettsburg, where he 
now lives. He was elected to, and served one ses- 
sion in, the State Senate from his district, com- 
mencing in 1881. He was made chairman of a 
special committee to improve the school laws of the 
State. He did the work well, and ever since the 
free schools of the State have grown in favor with 
the people. He was pushed by his friends for a 
seat on the Appellate Bench. He was defeated for 
the nomination, yet his successful rival was de- 
feated by a stiff majority in a district largely in his 
favor, politically. 

Colonel Moore has a large and profitable law 
practice, and does not care to turn aside to fill 
offices. He is one of Catlettsburg' s most honored 
citizens. His family consists of himself, wife, and 
four daughters. His oldest daughter, a graduate of 
Vassar College, a young lady of superior talent, 
and entering upon literary pursuits, with the pros- 
pect of a long life of usefulness before her, was 
stricken down before her plans were fully carried 
out to use the talents and accomplishments she pos- 
sessed to better the race of man. Her mantle has 
fallen on her sisters, who are doing much, by deeds 



HON. S. S. SAVAGE. 39 

of charity and kindness, to assist the young to get 
a moral and intellectual training to fit them for 
lives of virtue and usefulness. The young ladies are 
Christian workers, are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, but stop not within Church 
lines in their noble deeds of doing good to others. 

Colonel Moore, like his father before him and 
his brothers, is an ardent Mason, and foremost in 
many good works. 

The oldest daughter, Sarah, married John Poage, 
an iron manufacturer, by whom she had one child, 
a dauQ^hter. She became the w^ife of H. C. Gart- 
rell, Avho, dying, left her with several children. 
Mrs. Gartrell lives on her fine farm, called " Cliff 
Side,'' half-way between Ashland and Catlettsburg. 
Mrs. Poage married, for her second husband. Pleas- 
ant Savage, by Avhom she had four children, three 
sons and a daughter. 

HON. S. S. SAVAGE, 

The eldest son, is a lawyer and prominent citizen 
of Ashland. After the death of his father, which 
occurred at Louisa in 1862, where the family then 
lived, the widow, with her children, moved to Cat- 
lettsburg, where Samuel studied laAV, and practiced 
for several years. He filled the office of town po- 
lice judge with acceptability to all classes of people. 
He afterwards moved to Ashland, and Avas soon 
after elected county judge, and filled the office w^ith 
firmness and ability. He is regarded as one of 



40 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Boyd County's most talented men. He is a Dem- 
ocrat in politics, and a leader of his party. He is 
married, and has a Avife and several children. He 
has the most imposing presence of, perhaps, any 
man in his county. 

Frank, his brother, was first a banker, but has 
for years been engaged in mercantile pursuits in 
Cincinnati. Alfred, the youngest, is a contractor 
on public works. The daughter is engaged in lit- 
erary pursuits in Ashland. The mother died many 
years ago. 

Frances married W. T. Nichols, who was prom- 
inent in business circles, first at Louisa, then at 
Catlettsburg, and finally at Ashland. They had 
one daughter, who married a gentleman living in 
Brooklyn, New York ; and as they had no other 
children, they moved to that city to enjoy her so- 
ciety. Mr. Nichols died there several years ago ; 
but Mrs. Nichols, though bowing beneath the weight 
of years, was able to visit her Sandy friends in 
1886, and make them happy by her presence. 

Another daughter married Talton Everett, of 
Guayandotte. They reared a large family of chil- 
dren, who fill high positions in life. 

Mrs. Wallace, of Louisa, is also a daughter. 
Her husband, Thomas Wallace, came from Ohio, 
and became one of the foremost business men on 
Sandy. He was assassinated by a rivat in business 
many years ago, yet, notwithstanding his sudden 
taking oif, left his large business in good shape, 



COLONEL GEORGE W. GALLUP. 41 

and his family well off. A son of his, Hon. Frank 
AVallace, of Louisa, is the State senator of his dis- 
trict. G. W. Castle, his son-in-law, has filled sev- 
eral positions of trust, among them county attorney. 
Another son-in-law, Mr. McClure, is county super- 
intendent of schools. The youngest son of Thomas 
Wallace has been police judge of his town. An- 
other daughter of Fred. Moore is the gifted Mrs. 
Sullivan, postmistress of Louisa. Her husband. 
Rev. C. M. Sullivan, a distinguished preacher of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, died soon after 
the Civil War, leaving her three sons to cheer her 
pathway in life. 

COLONEL GEORGE W. GALLUP, 

Who married Rebecca, the youngest daugliter of 
Frederick Moore and wife, came from New York 
State about 1850, quite a young man, and engaged 
in school-teaching at South Point, Ohio, where he 
gave great satisfaction to his employers. He sub- 
sequently went to Louisa, studied law, and was 
admitted to the bar at that place. He went into 
partnership with Colonel L. T. Moore, his brother- 
in-law, which continued to 1861. When the 14th 
Kentucky was organized, in the Fall of 1861, Mr. 
Gallup went into the regiment as quartermaster. 
In less than a year, owing to the resignation of 
Colonel Moore, and, still later on, the resignation 
of Colonel Cochran, who succeeded Colonel Moore, 
Lieutenant Gallup was promoted to the colonelcy 

4 



42 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



of the regiment. Some dissatisfaction was occa- 
sioned by Gallup's promotion, but the new colonel 
soon showed his officers and men that he was " the 
right man in the right place." 

The 14th was in many a fiery skirmish and 
hard-fought battle. Especially was it exposed to 
the enemy\s lines in its march on Atlanta from 
Nashville, under Sherman. Colonel Gallup was not 

only p o p u 1 a r 
with the other 
officers of the 
regiment, but 
was idolized by 
the men for his 
k i n d n e s s and 
humanity to 
them. His dar- 
ing and bravery 
was equal to his 
humanity. I n 
a hotly con- 
tested battle, on 
the line f r o m 
Nashville to Atlanta, an orderly from the com- 
mander of the brigade rode up to Colonel Gallup, 
saying that the general wanted the 14th to capture a 
redoubt which was vexing the entire brigade. Col- 
onel Gallup was in a position to know that it would 
take five thousand men to capture the enemy\s 
works, and told the orderly to so report to his chief. 




GEN. G. W. GALLUP. 



COLONEL GEORGE W. GALLUP. 43 

The orderly soon returned, and mildly intimated to 
the colonel that it was a lack of courage that pre- 
vented his moving with his command on the enemy. 
Stung with indignation, Colonel Gallup, with drawn 
sword, telling his men to stand still, marched up 
within a hundred feet of the redoubt, the bullets 
raining all about him. The orderly scampered 
away, soon returning with an apology from his chief. 
Colonel Gallup, no doubt, would have attained 
to a generaPs place, had not red-tape and jealousy 
intervened to prevent it. After three years of he- 
roic discharge of duty on the tented field in battling 
for the old flag and the old Government, he returned 
to the peaceful walks of life, settling down in his 
old home at Louisa, never again taking up the 
practice of the law, but engaged in the milling and 
lumbering business. 

Moving to Catlettsburg, he became a contractor 
on the C. and O. Railroad, and then took the con- 
tract to build the Key's Creek Mining Railroad, in 
which he lost heavily. On the retirement of Ben 
Burk, whose health failed. Colonel Gallup was ap- 
pointed, by President Hayes, to succeed Mr. Burk 
as postmaster at Catlettsburg. He held the office 
till the day of his death, in 1881, discharging the 
duties required with singular faithfulness. 

George "W. Gallup was no ordinary man. Had 
he continued in the lines of literary pursuits which 
he had marked out in his youth, he would have 
risen to literary fame. While he was a good lawyer, 



44 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 

he never liked its practice. After coming in 
contact with large bodies of men in the war, he was 
ever after inclined to engage in works that reqnired 
great numbers of operatives to perform the work. 
And as colonel in the army, so was he as the em- 
ployer and manager of large forces of workmen — 
liberal, considerate, and just. He Avanted his em- 
ployes to fare well, although himself might fail to 
get his money. 

He was an impressive speaker, and sometimes 
could be called eloquent. He was brought out by 
the Democracy, soon after the war, as a candidate 
for State senator. The district was Republican, 
and Colonel Gallup was beaten, although he made 
a gallant fight. He never after acted with the 
party, but declared himself a Republican, and re- 
mained one until death. 

He was an adherent to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, and belonged to several benevolent 
orders. He left a widow and one grown son. The 
son, George Frederick Gallup, succeeded his father 
as postmaster at Catlettsburg, and, like him, made 
friends by the impartial and business-like manner 
in which he discharged his official duties. He was 
dismissed to make room for one who, although he 
made a good postmaster, failed to have the claims 
that Fred. Gallup had to recommend him to the 
office. 

For meritorious conduct Colonel Gallup was 
brevetted brigadier-general. 



COLONEL JOHN DILS, JR. 



45 



COLONEL JOHN DILS, JR. 
In getting up the material for the history of the 
people of the Big Sandy Valley, the author invited 
Mr. Dils to furnish for its pages all of the more 
important events coming under his notice. During 
his nearly half-century residence in the Upper Sandy 
country, con- 
stantly mixing 
with the people in 
their social, busi- 
ness and political 
affairs well quali- 
fied him for fur- 
nishing historical 
matter impossible 
to get from any 
other source. 

The . graphic 
and scholarly way 
in which he has 

T. 1 T J. 1 ^ COLONEL JOHN DILS, JR. 

discharged the 

task is sufficient reason for giving his manuscript, 
as it came from his own hands, a place in the book, 
without any alteration whatever. 

Colonel John Dils was born, 1819, in Parkers- 
burg, Wood County, now West Virginia. Hii^ 
father was John Dils, Sen., and his grandfather bore 
the same name, who, together with his brother 
Henry, emigrated from Pennsylvania, on the Monon- 




46 



THE BIG SANDY VALLF.Y. 



galiela River, near Brownsville, and came to West 
A'^^irginia, and settled in Wood County, near Park- 
ersburg, about the year 1789. They had both served 
in the War of 1776, and were active participants, 
with the Ohio colonies of Belpre and Marietta, in 
the Indian troubles on the frontier, in the early set- 
tlements of that 
day. His father 
was with the 
Wood County 
militia under 
Colonel Phelps, 
who wxnt to ar- 
rest Colonel Burr 
and his men on 
B 1 e n n e rhassett 
Island, under the 
proclamation of 

nesidence of Colonel John Dils, Jr., Piketon, Ky. pT.pc;i(1pj]t Jeffcr- 

son in 1806. But failing to find him on the island. 
Colonel Phelps, with a part of his men, hastened to 
the mouth of the Big Kanawha River to intercept 
Colonel Burr's retreat; but Colonel Phelps was 
again foiled by the wily foe. 

I hav^ often heard my father express words of 
sympathy and kindness toward the unfortunate 
•Blennerhassett and his beautiful and accomplished 
wife, who were the owners of the historic island 
that bears their name. To be reared amongst the 
living actors of those stirring events of our conn- 




COLONEL JOHN DLLS, JR. 47 

try's history, has made an impression and left a 
charm that no romance or fiction has ever been 
enabled to supplant the real, as imbibed in my early 
boyhood. The very air was rife with the tales of 
the wonderful deeds of early frontiersmen. Ran- 
som, a swarthy, dwarfish negro, who became the 
property of my cousin, James Stephenson, was the 
servant and Avaiter of his royal queen, Mrs. Blenner- 
hassett. He was a good fiddler, and a favorite with 
the youngsters in his nocturnal visits, and many were 
the joyful reels I participated in under his teaching 
and inimitable music ; and when tired with " tripping 
the toe,'' we would gather around our sable friend to 
listen to some wonderful stories he was so fond of 
relating of the prairie queen whom he had so 
proudly served, but now " far away from her own 
dear island of sorrow." 

But it was meet for me the spell should be 
broken, by leaving dream-land and the magic of the 
hour. In 1836 Mr. Callihan, who had married my 
sister the year previous, stopped at Parkersburg on 
his return from an Eastern trip of purchasing goods, 
to get me to accompany him to his home at Pike- 
ville, Ky., which I accepted, as I was anxious to 
be with my sister. And thus it was Big Sandy 
became my future home, where I now live, and have 
resided ever since, save a short time during the late 
war, when it became expedient to remove my fiim- 
ily to a safer and more congenial place. The im- 
pression, as I traveled alone up the Big Sandy 



48 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Valley for the first time, would be difficult to recall, 
save its wild but rich presentation of both land and 
forest, and its far excelling any thing of the kind in 
the majesty of the mountains that I had ever seen. 
The people I found to be plain and simple, with 
unbounded hospitality. Most of them were the 
early pioneers of the country ; some had been sol- 
diers of the Revolution, and many others of the 
War of 1812 and the Indian wars. The country 
abounded with game. Bear and deer were abund- 
ant, and hunters were numerous and happy. Hunt- 
ing was the principal occupation of both young and 
old. In the season for killing game a man without 
a gun was out of occupation, unless he was a mer- 
chant or preacher. A good gun was worth a good 
farm or first-class horse, as I have often heard 
hunters say. 

The peltry taken from the wild animals found a 
ready sale. Many a fat bear and deer\s carcass, 
after being stripped of its hide, Avas left to be de- 
voured by ravenous wolves, wild-cats, etc. It 
would be marvelous to the present generation should 
I relate some of the old hunters' yarns of expe- 
riences in their hunting expeditions. I am now 
thinking of some of the old Nimrods ; such men as 
the Pinsons, Maynards, Colleys, Belchers, Owens, 
and a host of others, not forgetting Uncle Barney 
Johnson, of block-house and golden wedge fame. 
This golden wedge Barney plowed up on his farm 
from an Indian burying- ground, and gave it to a 



COLONEL JOHN DILS, JR. 



49 



blacksmith neighbor to braze bells with, not know- 
ing its worth. I heard the brazier say it was the 
best brazing metal he ever had in his shop. 

In addition to the abundance of game to supply 

the roaming hunter, it was the land of honey and 

ginseng. It was no trouble for a little boy or girl 

to make from one to three dollars a day in digging 

the latter article. It was generally collected in the 

Fall of the year in its green state, and sold to the 

merchants, who had it clarified for the Eastern 

market before shipping. Ginseng was the principal 

commodity of exchange in all the Upper Sandy 

counties, and I can only say the amount collected 

and shipped down the Sandy River annually was 

really fabulous. But the bear, deer, and ginseng 

have long since mainly disappeared, and the fine 

timber of the forests is fast following in the same 

footsteps. 

About the 1st of December, 1837, I was in- 
trusted by Mr. Callihan with a considerable amount 
of money, which I belted around me, to overtake a 
large drove of hogs which belonged to Mr. Calli- 
han's partner, H. B. Mayo, of Prestonburg, and 
which was in the care of his son, A. I. Mayo. The 
country I had to pass through was entirely strange 
to me, with only a settlement here and there, being 
almost an entire wilderness. As I had to pass 
■ through the Pound Gap of the Cumberland, but 
little better than a bridle-path, and as I had heard 
that was the main passage of the Goings and Murry 

5 



50 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

gangs of horse-thieves, to East Tennessee, I had 
many misgivings whether I would be able safely to 
deliver the money. But, nothing daunted, having 
procured a weapon, I had determined to deliver 
the charge or die in the effort. 

About twenty miles from Pikeville, where the 
Shelby Creek forks, instead of going to the left, I 
took the right-hand path, and, after traveling near 
fifteen miles from the direct road to the Pound Gap, 
I learned my mistake, but was told if I would cross 
the mountain, which was very high and rough, to 
the left, I could again fall into the right road, some 
six or eight miles distant. It was then snowing 
heavily. I was directed to follow a dog-trail which 
had just passed over the mountain, returning home 
from a bear-chase ; but while I could climb the 
rugged mountain with little difficulty myself, I 
found it quite different with the horse I was lead- 
ing. Indeed, I found the progress so slow and the 
dog-trail beco4iiing so dim and difficult to follow 
from the snovr-storm, with also a good prospect of 
a night's lodging in the snow, my better judgment 
was to right about face and retrace steps, which I 
hastened to do, as night would soon be on me. It 
was near ten o'clock when I drew up at the house 
of my kind friend, S. Hall, that night, for lodging, 
having traveled fifteen miles, with no other incident 
than having the pleasure of seeing a large bear 
cross my path not more than a mile from Mr. 
HalPs house. After partaking of a hearty supper 



COLONEL JOHN DILS, JR. 51 

of good fat bear-meat, sweet milk, corn-bread, etc., 
and relating the incidents of the day, not forgetting 
to mention I desired an early start in the morning, 
I soon fonnd myself tucked away in good, warm 
feathers, with a light heart, happy in the thought 
that the belt with the money was all safe around 
me, and by the next day's travel, nothing happen- 
ing, I would be relieved of all dread and care by 
safely delivering it over to Mr. Mayo ; all of which 
it was my good fortune to accomplish after travel- 
ing more than fifty miles, not seeing over a half- 
dozen houses in the space. 

In 1840 and 1841 I taught two subscription 
schools of five months each per session. In No- 
vember, 1842, I was married to my present wife. 
Miss Ann Ratliff, third daughter of General Wm. 
Ratliff, of Pike County, Kentucky. The following 
year I went into the mercantile business with 
R. D. Callihan and Jno. N. Richardson, known as 
the firm of Jno. Dils, Jr., & Co. In two years fol- 
lowing, it was changed to Richardson & Dils. 

In 1846 the war with Mexico broke out. Pres- 
ident Polk issued a proclamation, calling for vol- 
unteers, and a company of one hundred men was 
made up at a general muster, a few days after the 
announcement. I was elected captain, C. Cecil, 
Sen., first lieutenant, and Lewis Sowards second 
lieutenant; but the company was never called into 
service on account of being too remote for trans- 
portation. 



52 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

In 1852, after twelve years of uninterrupted 
pleasant business relations with my friend and part- 
ner, J. N. Richardson, I bought him out, and con- 
tinued the business in my own name until the War 
of the Rebellion in 1861. In October of the same 
year I was arrested at my OAvn house, by the order 
of Colonel Jno. S. Williams, who commanded the 
Confederate forces, then camped around Pikeville. 
I was only a private citizen, but was treated as a 
felon, and sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, 
Virginia, under a heavy guard, and placed in the 
notorious Libby Prison for safe-keeping. My wife 
came to Richmond as soon as she could get per- 
mission to pass through the lines, and I was liber- 
ated a few days before Christmas. As we were 
traveling through Buchanan County, Virginia, on 
the head of Sandy River, we stopped to feed our 
horses and take supper, in order to reach Grundy 
that night, so as to make the next day's ride 
lighter ; for we were anxious to get home the day 
following, to see our little children, whom she had 
left in the care of a trusty servant and a brother- 
in-law. 

But that night's ride came near being my 
last. About a mile from where we got supper, we 
were called to halt by a party concealed in the 
timber on the hill-side. My wife was just before 
me on a bridge. As she did not hear the summons, 
I called out to her to stop. I asked the concealed 
party what they wanted. They evaded my question. 



COLONEL JOHN DILS, JR. 53 

I requested them to come down ; I wanted to 
see who they were, so I could report them. They 
halloed out, ^^ Go on." We started, but I was 
fired at three times before I got that many lengths 
of my horse, the shot just brushing the back of my 
head, and dashing the little twigs from the brush 
in my face. We moved up pretty lively after that 
for a few miles. 

I visited Washington the February following, 
with a view of getting relieved from any military 
obligation I might be considered bound to observe 
to the Confederate States. I was neither sworn, 
nor did I sign any parole, but was simply discharged, 
as I understood. But still I did not feel just like 
a free man ; not that I wanted to go into the serv- 
ice, but I knew my failing : I would speak out my 
sentiments — therefore I desired to be relieved from 
any trammels, however constructively viewed. 
After seeing my friend, Hon. Green Adams, I laid 
the matter before him to assist me in the difficulty. 
My friend introduced me to the President, Abraham 
Lincoln, who gave me a special invitation to visit 
him as often as I could, which marked favor I was 
pleased to accept, seldom missing a day, as each 
visit made it more interesting and charming as time 
fleeted away. I refer to this, as it was my good 
pleasure to have the opportunity to listen to what 
that good man had to say to each of the many 
who were hourly petitioning him for some favor, 
and wherein his inestimable worth could be seen 



54 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

both in the Executive and the great, swelling, loving 
heart for the people. 

In August, 1862, some of the advance troops of 
General Kirby Smith arrived near Pikeville. I was 
robbed of a large stock of goods by a party under 
the command of Colonel Menifee, and some of 
Colonel CaudilPs command. I had to flee the 
country for life. I arrived at Frankfort, after stop- 
ping a short time in Louisville, the fourth day after 
leaving home, giving the news of what was going 
on. I wanted guns, as no peace could be had at 
home on any terms. 

There were a great many people gathering in 
Frankfort, as the State was in a fever of excitement. 
Governor Magoffin resigned, and the Hon. James 
Robinson was inaugurated. I had the pleasure of 
seeing Senator J. J. Crittenden, with an introduc- 
tion. He informed me that in the War of. 181 2 he 
formed the acquaintance of my father, both being 
soldiers under General Harrison. I was invited to 
his house to take tea with himself and his excellent 
wife, and Was very kindly and cordially received. 
He had much to say to me about the war, and asked 
many questions about what I had seen while in 
Richmond, and also about friends who had left 
Kentucky, and were supposed to be in Richmond. 
He went with me to the arsenal the next day, to 
see that I got such guns as I desired,. speaking 
many kind words in favor of myself and the people 
for whom I wanted the guns. I found him the 



THE RICE FAMILY. 55 

" noblest Roman of them all/' and shall ever ven- 
erate him for his kindness to me and for the interest 
he manifested in the mountain people. 

A commission to recruit a regiment came to me 
at Catlettsburg about the first of September, without 
any solicitation or agency on my part; I learned 
that it was done through such friends as the Hon. 
J. J. Crittenden, Garrett Davis, and others. It was 
several days before I could get my own consent to 
accept ; but, there being so many refugees from the 
Upper Sandy counties (Pike, Floyd, etc.) that 
Avanted to go into the service of the United States 
army soliciting me, I finally acquiesced, and recruited 
the first day about two hundred men, and soon 
after raised, at a considerable personal sacrifice, 
Avhat is known as the 39th Kentucky Regiment, 
Mounted Infantry. Its efiiciency or inefficiency as 
an auxiliary in the service of the Government has 
gone into history, to stand the test of an im- 
partial judgment of the loyal mind, where its friends 
rest in confidence of a just verdict. 



THE RICE FAMILY 

Is ONE of the most noted of all the old families 
which has given to the Big Sandy Valley its pres- 
tige in developing men of marked ability. Their 
ancestors were of the Celtic race, and lived in Wales. 
James M. Rice's grandfather came to America be- 
fore -the great Revolution. He took sides with the 



56 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Colonies, and fought for freedom. His son, the 
father of James M. Rice, came from his Virginia 
home, east of the Blue Ridge, in 1799, and settled 
near Guyandotte, Va. The next year he married, 
and in 1802 his most noted son, James M., was 
born. 

It is not our purpose to go very far away for 
materials, although ever so abundant, or we would 
say more of the father of James M. Rice before he 
brought his young family from the neighborhood 
of Guyandotte, and settled on what is now known 
as the Toler farm, adjoining Coalton, in Boyd 
County. 

James was then a small boy, on whose shoulders 
was placed a heavy load in helping his father on 
the farm to make a support for a growing family. 
This, it must be remembered, was in 1814. No iron 
furnaces, as now, had been established, giving em- 
ployment, though the wages might be meager, to 
the men and boys of toil. The only place in reach 
of young Rice, where work could be had, was at the 
salt-wells on Little Sandy, where Grayson now 
stands. The youth had a hungering and thirsting 
after an education, and had seized on every oppor- 
tunity to attain what he so ardently desired. The 
few and imperfect schools in his settlement were at- 
tended whenever he could be spared from work. 
Every book procurable by his scanty means was not 
only read, but studied. With his education barely 
commenced, before he was twenty years of age, he 



THE RICE FAMILY. 57 

left his father's house, and went to the salt-wells, 
and cut wood and boiled salt. But while his 
labor was arduous and exacting, he still con- 
tinued his studies by reading at night by the 
light of the salt furnace. By the time he came 
to man's age, he had .so improved his time that he 
was known as one of the best scholars of his age in 
all the country round about. 

At this period of his life and expectancy, the 
celebrated John M. McConnell, one of the most 
brilliant men and lawyers that ever lived on Sandy, 
was attracted to young Rice, whom he looked upon 
as a young man of great intellectual endowments, 
and as one, if having encouragement, who was des- 
tined to fill an exalted place among his countrymen. 
He invited Mr. Rice to come to his home and study 
law in his office. Mr. Rice informed Mr. McCon- 
nell that he had not sufficient means to defray the 
expense of such a course, but was ansAvered that 
that matter could be attended to farther along. Mr. 
Rice entered upon his study at Greenup, where Mc- 
Connell lived, and soon mastered Blackstone, Chitty, 
and other writers on fundamental law. 

The time came when he must go out from under 
the friendly roof of Mr. McConnell and family, and 
commence the practice of his chosen profession. 
He desired his preceptor to riiake out his bill for 
board and instruction, for which he intended giving 
his note, assuring Mr. McConnell that the first 
money he should earn in his practice should go to 



58 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

the payment of the note. Mr. McConuell told him 
he would not accept hLs note, nor receive any con- 
sideration in money ; that his stay had been a pleasure 
to him and his household ; that he felt amply paid 
by the assiduity with which he had pursued his 
studies, and his gentlemanly bearing under his roof. 
^^ But/' said the great McConnell, " if ever in the 
course of your future career, a bright young man, 
without money or influential friends, presents him- 
self in your way, take him to your home and to 
your office, and do by him as I have done by you. 
This is all the pay I want, or will accept.'^ The 
young lawyer bowed himself away, resolving that, 
whether prosperity or adversity should fall to his lot, 
the injunction should be kept. 

Mr. Rice's great talents soon brought him a good 
practice at Prestonburg, where he settled soon after 
being admitted to the bar. 

About this time, or before, he married Miss Jane 
H. Burns, daughter of Rev. Jerry Burns, a talented 
Methodist preacher, who was the grandfather of 
Hon. Harvey Burns, Judge John M. Burns, and 
Roland T. Burns. Miss Burns was a lady of strong 
mind and rare gifts, one well calculated to fill the 
position of the wife of a rising young public man. 
They first settled in Prestonburg, Mr. Rice at once 
taking high I'ank as a lawyer. After remaining six 
years at Prestonburg, Mr. Rice moved his family 
to Louisa, and by that time his law practice had 
grown to great magnitude. Most of his time was 



THE RICE FA MIL F. 59 

Spent in attending the courts of his district, making 
the journey on horseback. Yet, notwithstanding 
the great draft made on his time in giving it to his 
chosen profession, he found 02:)portunity to cultivate 
the amenities of life, making friends Avherever he 
went, and to give much thought to the politics of 
the day. 

In 1836 he was elected to the State Senate from 
the district,^ and took high rank in that august body, 
notwithstanding his party in the Senate was in the 
minority. While serving his constituents in the 
Senate, he had the misfortune to lose his wife by 
death, which greatly affected him. A man of less 
nerve w^ould have been tempted to yield up his of- 
fice and return to private life ; but a man of strong 
mind and intellect, like Judge James M. Rice, paus- 
ing to weep for his dead, felt that the living had 
claims upon him which had to be met also. 

In 1840 he married, for a second wife. Miss Ma- 
tilda, daughter of Richard Brown, then living on 
his farm at the Levisa and Tug Point, and a sister 
of Hon. George N. Brown. The second marriage, 
like the first, was one every way suitable to a public 
man like Judge Rice. His first wife had left him 
five children, two sons and three daughters, whose 
mental and moral training, so well begun by their 
own mother, was now to be carried forward by the 
step-mother ; and it would be hard to find a wife 
and step-mother who discharged every duty she owed 
to husband and step-children with more intelligence. 



60 THE BIG SA ND Y VALLE Y. 

discretion, and love than did Mrs. Matilda Rice. 
Her husband was all the world to her, and, taking 
his children in her charge, she instilled into their 
hearts and minds the principles best calculated to 
develop them into strong men and women. No 
mother ever displayed greater devotion to her chil- 
dren than did Mrs. Rice in rearing to manhood and 
womanhood her step-children, and few mothers have 
been more amply rewarded than Mrs. Rice in 
the success of her arduous labors. 

Jacob — or Jake, as he wrote his name — at 
twenty-three, was the finest orator and most brilliant 
young man of his age that ever lived on Sandy. 
Like his father, he was a lawyer, and his friends 
predicted a bright career for him. From childhood 
he was troubled with obesity, which grew with his 
age, not only hindering his locomotion, but depress- 
ing his naturally bright intellect. Notwithstanding 
this great drawback, he was a good lawyer, a popu- 
lar orator, and one of the most genial of men. He 
filled a seat in the Legislature from Lawrence and 
Boyd, and was one of the most noted Free Masons 
of Eastern Kentucky, filling the principal chair in 
the Grand Lodge of the State. He was a religious 
man, and often preached as a lay preacher of the 
Southern Methodist Church, of which he was a 
member. He had his defects; but, they were the 
foibles of human nature, rather than great sins. He 
died from paralysis, commencing at Frankfort, 
w^hile a member of the I^ower House in the Legis- 



THE RICE FA MIL Y. 61 

lature, and terminating in his death at his home 
near Louisa, in 1884. He left a large family. 

The youngest son, John McConnell Rice, if not 
more brilliant than his gifted brother Jake, has 
proven himself to be a man of intellect, and a leader 
among men. Like his father and brother, he, too, 
is a lawyer. On being admitted to the bar in 1853, 
he removed to Pikeville, where he practiced until 
1860, when he went back to Louisa, taking at the 
bar there the place of his father, who, the same 
year, moved to Catlettsburg. While at Pikeville 
he was elected once to the Legislature, and once 
from Lawrence and Boyd. In 1868 he was elected 
to Congress from the Ninth District, and re-elected 
in 1872, carrying on all the time a large law prac- 
tice. In 1884 he was appointed judge of the Big 
Sandy Criminal Court, and was elected without op- 
position for a full term in 1885, which he is now 
iillino;. 

He received the plaudits of his party in every 
official position he has occupied by their suf- 
frage ; but as criminal judge the entire body politic 
rise up and applaud him as a just and upright judge. 
No honor of an official nature has ever been sought 
by him without obtaining what he asked for. 

The judge married Miss Poage, a daughter of 
William Poage, a prominent citizen of Greenup 
County. They have two sons and three daughters. 
One of the daughters married James H. McConnell, 
the postmaster at Catlettsburg. One married James 



62 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Q. Lackey, of Louisa ; and another married Benja- 
min Thomas, a noted engineer, now in charge of the 
Big Sandy River public improvements. One of the 
sons married Miss Abbott, a worthy young lady of 
his native town ; and the remaining son holds an 
important office in the revenue department of the 
Government. 

Hon. James M. Rice, during the session of the 
Legislature in I860, went to Frankfort, and labored 
with so much candor and ability as to impress upon 
the members the advisability of cutting oif portions 
of Greenup, Lawrence, and Carter, and forming the 
county of Boyd. Many others did much to achieve 
the same end, but none did so much as Judge James 
M. Rice. The same year he moved to Catlettsburg, 
where he lived till his death. During his residence 
here he gave most of his time to the practice of his 
profession. Always taking a deep interest in the 
political affairs of his country, his devotion to his 
party was great, and it is likely that he sometimes 
felt that he should have received more benefits from 
it than fell to his lot. A man may be talented, no 
matter where he may live, but oftentimes his great- 
ness ^' is wasted on the desert air.^^ A Democrat, 
be he ever so brilliant, can make no headway in a 
Republican State ; and vice versa. During Judge 
Rice^s prime, the State of Kentucky was overwhelm- 
ingly Whig. Almost any Whig could have beaten 
the Democratic party. Had Kentucky been Demo- 
cratic at that period. Judge Rice would, no doubt. 



THE RICE FAMIL F. 63 

have risen to the highest places of official honor 
known to the Commonwealth. 

Less than a year after his removal to Catletts- 
burg, the great Civil War commenced. Judge 
Rice was strongly Southern in his feelings, but at 
the same time declared secession to be a heresy, 
contending that the Southern leaders were making 
a great mistake in breaking up the Government to 
obtain the rights they could only hope to get 
within the Union. While his sympathies were 
with the Southern people, he conducted himself 
during the entire conflict with that dignity and dis- 
cretion so becoming in one of his exalted position. 
Only once during the war was any indignity cast 
upon the great man, and that, of no great moment, 
Avas caused by a green subaltern in the Union 
army, over-zealous in the discharge of duty. 

The sons of Judge James M. Rice we have fully 
noticed. His three daughters must now receive 
our attention. Amanda is married to a worthy 
gentleman named Culter, and lives in Florida. 
Another daughter married Samuel Short, a promi- 
nent citizen of Lawrence. They are both dead, 
leaving no children save an adopted daughter, the 
wife of F. F. Freese, Esq., of Louisa. The other 
daughter married John Jones, a son of Daniel 
Jones, at one time a prominent citizen of Preston- 
burg. Mrs. Jones died many years ago, leaving 
several children. 

Judge Rice was one of the most considerate of 



64 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

parents, e^^er laboring for the advancement of his 
children. He provided not only his two sons, but 
the daughters as well, with the best education the 
schools and colleges could afford. While he was 
always a friend of morals and Christianity, and his 
house during his entire married life was the home 
of the preacher, he never publicly professed faith 
in Christ until two or three years previous to his 
death, when he united with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South. He was a man of strictly tem- 
perate habits, never indulging in the use of stimu- 
lants, and even gave up the use of tobacco many 
years before he died. His mind and all of his fac- 
ulties were undimmed to the last, and his sudden 
death was a fitting termination of the life of one so 
majestic. On the 24th day of October, 1870, his 
heart ceased to beat, and the great man was gathered 
to his fathers. He left a widow, in addition to the 
sons and daughters named. The second wife never 
bore him any children, but she lives to-day, keep- 
ing green the memory of her departed husband, 
and taking the most lively interest in the welfare 
of his children and grandchildren. 

We omitted to state under the proper head that 
Mr. Rice at one time filled the office of circuit 
judge by appointment with great ability. 

Before finishing our paper on the Rice family, 
we must refer again to Judge James M. Rice's 
great friend, John M. McConnell. That the for- 
mer never ceased to remember his preceptor with 



THE RICE FAMILY. 65 

gratitude, is evinced by the fact that he named one 
of his two sons after him. The present judge of 
the Big Sandy Criminal Court, Hon. John M. Rice, 
bears the honored given name of his father\s first 
great friend, McConnelL The naming of a child is 
only a sentiment, and while Judge Rice did not ig- 
nore a sentiment, he was ever on the alert to dis- 
cover a young man answering the description 
pointed out by McConnell, whom he could take to 
his home and office, and do for him as Mr. McCon- 
nell had, unsolicited, done for himself. At last the 
opportunity came. John McDyer, a bright, tal- 
ented young man, without means to defray his ex- 
penses, presented himself to Mr. Rice, and informed 
him that he wanted to enter his office as a law 
student, but he did not then have the means at 
command to pay for such a course. Mr. Rice bade 
the young man welcome, and told him that his 
board and tuition should be free. Mr. McDyer 
pursued his studies with alacrity and was soon ad- 
mitted to the bar ; and, had not his life been cut 
short by fatal disease almost at its threshold, it is 
believed that he woukl have made a great name as 
a lawyer. He married a daughter of George 
Hutchinson, of Lawrence, and sister of I. B. 
Hutchinson. He left a widow and a daughter 
and son. The widow soon followed her young 
husband to the grave ; the daughter is married, 
and lives in Lawrence ; and the son, John McDyer, 
is one of Boyd County^s most prominent citizens. 

6 



66 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

But the sublime friendship formed between the 
houses of McCounell and Rice does not cease when 
James M. Rice, the real founder of the Rice dy- 
nasty, on Sandy, pays back in kind the benefits he 
had in early manhood received from John M. McCou- 
nell, the founder of the McCounell family in Ken- 
tucky. Near fifty years had come and gone since 
McConnelPs dust had returned" to earth, and Judge 
Rice had also been laid in his grave, when James 
H. McCounell, son of Charles L. McCounell, and 
grandson of John M. McCounell, Avooed and won 
the heart and hand of Ida, daughter of Hon. John 
M. Rice, and granddaughter of Judge James M. 
Rice, thus cementing in love the friendship formed 
by their ancestors half a century before. 



THE RICE FAMILY, OF JOHNSON, 

Settlp:d in the county in 1815. They came from 
Virginia. They are mostly farmers, and some of 
them wealthy ones. Martin Rice, of Jennie's 
Creek, is one of the richest men in Johnson. Two 
of his sons are leading merchants of Paintsville. 
One of them is clerk of the Circuit Court. Other 
members of the Rice family are professional men. 
The Rices of Johnson are mostly adherents of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and are Republicans 
in politics. 

Another large branch of the family is found in 
Floyd, Pike, and Martin. They, too, are mostly tillers 



JOHN N. RICHARDSON. 67 

of the soil, and, as a family, maintain the reputation 
of good citizenship. The latter branch are mostly 
Baptists, though some Methodists are found in the 
family. In politics they are divided. 



JOHN N. RICHARDSON 

Was raised in Philadelphia. He was educated in 
the academy owned and conducted by Thomas 
Smiley, the author of Smiley\s Arithmetic. He 
came west in 1833, when quite a young man, and 
stopped at the Mouth of Sandy. ^^ Dad '' Owens 
fell in with him there, and insisted on the young 
Philadelphian\s going home with him to Pike, to 
take charge of his mercantile books, as he discov- 
ered the young man to be an expert in book-keep- 
ing. Mr. Richardson yielded, and for near twenty 
years made Pikeville his home. He married a 
daughter of Thos. RatlifP, the sister of General 
Ratliif, of that place. He became a merchant, and 
did a great trade in ginseng, furs, etc. He became 
a very religious man while there, and did much to 
promote the cause of religion and sound morality. 
He moved, about 1852, to Greenup County, and 
took charge of the office of the Pennsylvania Fur- 
nace, then owned by W. M. Patton and others. 
Joseph Patton was assistant manager. 

Quitting there in about 1854, he moved to Cat- 
lettsburg, and formed a partnership with his old 
partner, R. D. Callihan, and opened a store in Ash- 



68 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

land, continuing to live in Catlettsburg. The firm 
built a flour-mill in Ashland, the nucleus of the 
large mill now owned by the Poages. In 1861 he 
opened a store in Catlettsburg, and by his trained 
business foresight made a good thing during the war. 
He for some time was cashier of the Bank of Ashland, 
and was regarded as a capital officer. But his health 
failing, he was compelled to withdraw from busi- 
ness in 1866, and died in 1867, lamented not only 
by his immediate family, but by the entire com- 
munity. The business houses were all closed in 
respect to his memory, on the day of his funeral. 

His son William is now, and has been for 
years, the cashier of the Ashland National Bank. 
Another son has filled for two terms the office of 
sheriff of Boyd County. Another son is a promi- 
nent business man in Ashland, and of literary 
ability. His eldest daughter, Meriba, was a lady 
of rare Christian graces and mental accomplish- 
ments. She was educated at the Female College, 
Wilmington, Delaware. She died ten years ago, 
greatly lamented by all who knew her. Another 
daughter is the wife of a prominent preacher in the 
West Virginia Conference, Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Another daughter is the wife of a promi- 
nent Ohio River steamboat man. 

The widow still survives, blessed by her dutiful 
children, who often call at the old homestead where 
the mother resides, surrounded by the comforts and 
luxuries which follow a well-spent life. 



JOHN M. McCONNELL. 69 

AVe failed to say another son occupies a high 
business position in a commercial town in Ohio. 



JOHN M. McCONNELL 

Was of Scotch-Irish descent, and born in Western 
Pennsylvania, about 1790. He received a good 
education before he was sixteen, at which time he 
was apprenticed to the tailor and draper business. 
While working faithfully at his trade, he by no 
means failed to snatch every moment of time not 
due his employer, to carry on a course of study 
previously laid out in his mind on quitting school ; 
and living in Cannonsburg, then containing a col- 
lege of learning, his opportunities were increased 
by the friendships. he made with not only many of 
the students, but the professors as well. They as- 
sisted the bright apprentice in carrying on a col- 
legiate course, by going to his room of evenings, 
and giving him the benefit of studying the text- 
books Avith them. While he did not have the op- 
portunity of reciting to the professors in the hall, 
he mastered the lessons, and had them well grounded 
in his mind, so that when his apprenticeship ex- 
pired, at twenty-one years of age, his education was 
as complete as many of the students who had given 
their days as well as their nights to study. 

In 1813, when twenty-one, his employer gave 
him tAventy-five dollars in money, a horse, saddle, 
and bridle, a large pair of saddle-bags, and a new 



70 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

suit of broadcloth ; and he left his native State and 
struck out for Kentucky, which he reached oppo- 
site Portsmouth ; he rode on to Greenup Court- 
house, and made a halt. After tarrying a short 
time here, he went to Woodford County, but soon 
came back to Eastern Kentucky, and went to Pres- 
tonburg, where he taught school, and read law with 
Robert Walker, one of the early lawyers of that 
town, famous for great lawyers. About this time 
he married Lucy Lewis, a daughter of Charles 
Lewis, of what is now Carter County, and settled 
in Greenup, where he lived the remainder of his 
days. 

From his entrance on the practice of his pro- 
fession until the day of his death, Mr. McConnell 
stood at the front rank of the. profession, and as 
one of the most eloquent men on the stump of his 
day found in the State. As money flowed into his 
hands from his great and extending practice, he 
made investments in the infant industries of his 
county, which yielded him large returns. Being a 
gentleman of taste and culture, he went to work to 
set up an establishment equal to almost any one 
found in the older settlements of that day. He 
purchased a large boundary of land fronting on the 
Ohio Piver, four miles above Greenupsburg, where 
he laid out a four-acre plat fronting on the bank of 
the beautiful river, and in the center erected a 
splendid two-story brick mansion, setting out shade- 
trees in regular order, with vegetable garden and 



JOHN M. McCONNELL. 71 

negro-liouses in the rear, shrubbery and flowers of 
the most delicious odors, arranged in plats, and 
lining the pebbled walks in front. After finishing 
the house in the best style known to mechanical 
art, and furnishing it with the most skillfully 
wrought furniture, and when ready to move in and 
occupy the splendid home, without any apparent 
sickness, in the year 1834, at forty-three years of 
age, he departed this life. He had burnt the candle 
of life at both ends, but accomplished as much as 
ordinary mortals achieve in double the time. Com- 
mencing life with comparatively nothing, he died 
leaving over fifty thousand dollars in money, lands, 
and negroes, to his widow and children. 

His only son. Judge Charles Lewis McConnell, 
lives in Catlettsburg, and is highly respected. The 
daughters all married men who occupy prominent 
places in business and society. The widow followed 
her husband to the grave about twenty years after 
his departure. 

Mr. McConnell was a State senator four years, 
and was regarded as one of the most eloquent of 
that then august body. He was not only an orator, 
but excelled as a conversationalist. We give an in- 
stance of his rare elocutionary power in common con- 
versation, which was related to us by the author's 
father-in-law, Robert Walter, of Blaiue. Mr. 
McConnell made many journeys from Greenup to 
Prestonburg, and back ; and on these trips he in- 
variably stopped with Neri Sweatnam, a fine liver, 



72 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

and a jolly good man to stay with all night. On 
all such occasions Mr. Sweatnam would send his 
colored servant ^' Bill '^ to tell Master Robert that 
the great man (meaning McConnell) had arrived, 
and to come over and hear him talk. He must 
have been a charming talker, as Mr. Walter often 
said that he surpassed all of the great men he ever 
heard speak or talk. He named Menifee, Cox, 
French, Rice, Moore, Andrews, as his models of 
greatness, but said that McConnell surpassed them 
all as a charming talker. 



THE PRESTON FAMILY. 

The early ancestor of this family in the Sandy 
Valley was Moses Preston, born and raised in Bed- 
ford County, Virginia, who, on coming to man's 
estate, found his country in the throes of the approach- 
ing Revolutionary struggle, and patriotically en- 
listed on the side of freedom. He fought through 
the war, and at its close returned to Bedford, and 
married a Miss Arthur, from which name are per- 
petuated many of the given names worn by the 
Prestons. 

In 1800 Moses Preston moved into the valley, 
and settled on what is known as the Morgan farm 
in Floyd, thence to the forks of Beaver. He came 
down to near George's Creek, and settled on the 
farm, where he lived and died, which latter event 
occurred in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He 



THE PRESTON FAMILY. 73 

was all his life a sterling Jeffersoniau Democrat. 
He was the father of six sons and five daughters. 

Isaac, the oldest son, married Polly Sloan, of 
Pike County, of an old-time house up there. They 
lived all their life on a farm in the vicinity of 
Peach Orchard. He, like his father Moses, died 
in the seventy-sixth year of his age, his wife Polly 
reaching the grand age of eighty-five before she 
was called to shuffle oif the mortal coil. They left 
a large number of descendants, who are among the 
best citizens of the Sandy Valley. Milton T. Pres- 
ton, the enterprising merchant of near Peach Or- 
chard, is a grandson of theirs. 

Stephen, the second son, married a Miss Miller, 
and, like his brothers, settled on a farm near where 
he lived in his boyhood. Here he lived, and here 
he died, at the age of seventy-four. Although he 
had traveled through Indiana in early manhood, 
he returned to his native soil, happy to keep his 
place among brothers and sisters. His wife, Pricie, 
was a devoted Methodist. She still lives, at the 
age of eighty-one, active in body and mind. They 
have many descendants to honor their name. 
Among them is Robert M. Preston, a bright, intel- 
ligent gentleman of Peach Orchard. 

Moses was the third son, whose life we will 
pass over at present, as he was not only like his 
brothers and sisters, a good citizen, but was des- 
tined to become a historic figure in Big Sandy 

annals. 

7 



74 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

John, the fourth son, married Kizzie Fitzpat- 
rick. She still survives. They raised a large 
family of sons, and one daughter. Henry, the fifth 
son, married Betty Kanes, and settled on a farm 
on Nat's Creek, where he resided until his death, 
which occurred at seventy-two years of age. His 
wife lived at the homestead the rest of her life. 
She died in the eighty -sixth year of her age. Both 
husband and wife were staunch Methodists. They 
left fifteen children, many grandchildren and great- 
grandchildren behind them. Among the former is 
McDonald Preston, the merchant and hotel-keeper 
at Richardson, Kentucky. Arthur Preston, a well- 
off merchant and timber-dealer of Graves' Shoal, 
w^ho is a rising man in his section, is a member of 
this branch of the Preston family. 

Arthur, the sixth son, married Nancy Miller, 
and first settled on Rock Castle, but soon after 
moved to the Tygart Valley, in Greenup County. 
After remaining a few years in Greenup County, 
he came back to the Sandy River, and settled on 
the farm, where he died, at the Graves' Shoal. He 
was known as a model farmer and stock-raiser, and 
prospered in business. His first wife died in 1852. 
He afterwards married Sarah Peery, daughter of 
David Peery, of Virginia. She lived until 1881, 
and then passed to the better land. He died in 
1884, leaving a host of descendants, who are not 
unworthy of their ancestry. Susan, the eldest 
daughter, married Abraham Mead, and lived on a 



THE PRESTON FAMILY. 75 

farm on Mead Branch. She died in 1847, and left 
numerous sons and daughters. She was a very 
pious lady, a member of the Methodist Church. 
Linda, the second daughter, married Jesse Price. 
They first lived near Graves' Shoal, but subse- 
quently moved to near the mouth of Buffalo, and 
after a few years, about 1873, they settled in 
Paintsville, where they both died, at a good old 
age. They were Baptist people, and pious. Among 
their sons we mention Washington Price, an able 
Baptist preacher, and, although bowed down with 
the weight of years upon him, he is able to bear 
the burden of seven Churches upon his shoulders, 
as the pastor of each. A. J. Price, another son, 
was a prominent merchant and Baptist preacher in 
his life. A grandson is a prominent educator, now 
living in Ohio. 

■* Polly, the third daughter of Moses Preston the 
first, married John Hawes, a Methodist preacher. 
They settled on George's Creek. From there they 
went to Indiana, but only to return to Flat Woods, 
Lawrence County, where they settled for life. 
Their farm was about a mile above Louisa. Wes- 
ley Hawes, a former prominent citizen of Lawrence 
County, holding the office of sheriff and other of- 
ficial honors, was their son. Judge Asbury Hawes, 
a merchant and farmer of Prosperity, is another 
son of theirs, and, like his ancestors is a Methodist. 
Allen P., another son, served as captain in the 
Union army. "Jane married Archibald Borders ; 



76 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

•'Betty married Abraham Childers. They lived 
mostly on a farm on the bank of the Sandy, al- 
though they spent some time in the Rock Castle 
region, the husband dying many years ago, and 
she growing old (now seventy-eight years), lives 
with her children, near Kichardson, and seems 
happy and contented. 

The Prestons, from the beginning on Sandy, 
have, as a family, sustained an unblemished reputa- 
tion for truth and honesty, and most of them are 
well-to-do people. In politics they are Democrats, 
with rare exceptions, inclining to the Methodists in 
religion, though some are Baptists. As a repre- 
sentative member of the Preston family, we give, 
in another place, the portrait of young Arthur 
Preston, the progressive merchant and trader of 
Graves' Shoal, a young man of mental vigor and a 
leader of the younger generation of the Prestons. 

MOSES, OR "COBY" PRESTON, 

The third son of Moses Preston and his wife, 7iee 
Miss Arthur, was one of the remarkable men whom 
the Sandy Valley has developed. He was born 
near the birth of the present century, and on com- 
ing to manhood married Elizabeth Haney, a woman 
of worth and great energy. She bore him a large 
family of children, who, following in the footsteps 
of their honored parents, are the foremost citizens 
in the Sandy Valley and in the homes they have 
hewn out in the far South-west. 



MOSES, OR ''GOBY'' PRESTON. 



11 



Soon after Mr. Preston's marriage with Miss 
Haney, being of a restless disposition, he, with his 
young wife, moved to the Scioto Valley country; 
but, finding chills and fever as abundant as good 
land, they shook the dust, or mud, from the soles 
of their feet and hastened back to the Great Sandy 
country. While the move down to Scioto was at- 
tended with expense, the plain, economical ways of 
life which Mr. Pres- 
ton adopted in early 
life, and kept up 
until the hour of 
his death, enabled 
him to return to 
the Sandy Valley 
with more material 
wealth than he had 
at starting. On his 
return he settled on 
the place known at 
the time as the 
Spencer farm, now 
the Kise farm, some miles below George's Creek. 
Here he lived many years, and prospered greatly. 

Alone, and afterward with his brother-in-law, 
Archibald Borders, he was among the first to en- 
gage in peeling and running tan-bark to Cincin- 
nati, floating it down in barges, constructed, often, 
out of lumber sawed by hand, called whip-sawing. 
He and his brother-in-law. Judge Borders, were as 




MOSES PRESTON, SR. 



78 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

well and favorably known to the old-time tanners 
and other business men of the Queen City as are 
the great timber-dealers of the present time known 
to the mill-men and builders of Cincinnati. He 
established a reputation for honesty and fair-dealing 
unsurpassed by no one in the business ; in some 
instances the bark went off without being subject 
to measurement, so much confidence had the buyers 
in Mr. Preston's honesty. While tan-bark was a 
specialty with him, he was almost as well known 
as a large timber-dealer. He also sent barge-loads 
of hoop-poles and staves to the Cincinnati market. 
Dealing in bark, cooper-stuff, and saw-logs com- 
bined seems to us to be sufficient for one man's 
busy attention; but to one with the business fore- 
sight of " Coby " Preston this alone was insignifi- 
cant, and at the same time he carried on a large 
general store, and cultivated many farms. By ap- 
plying business rules to every department of his 
extended pursuits, he made money at all, and was 
never accused of overreaching the hireling that 
wrought for him. 

About the time Johnson County was formed 
into a separate jurisdiction, which was in 1843, 
Mr. Preston moved up to the mouth of Paint 
Creek, and ever after, as long as he lived, made 
that place the center of his business enterprises, 
although he alternated his residence between the 
mouth of Paint and Paintsville, one-half a 
mile above, having good residences at both places. 



MOSES, OR ''COBY'' PRESTON. 79 

Like all dwellers on the highway with a good 
house, he entertained the wayfaring man in a sump- 
tuous style at his home on the river. 

The wife of his youth, after sharing with him 
his sorrows and joys, and assisting her husband by 
her good counsels and domestic skill, sickened and 
died, leaving behind a number of sons, who, by fol- 
lowing the good and wholesome advice given them 
by their mother, and walking in the footsteps of 
their father, have, nearly all of them, come to the 
front as business men and upright citizens in the 
vicinity where they were brought up. 

After the death of his first wife, Mr. Preston 
married Nancy, a daughter of David Peery, of 
Tazewell County, Virginia. They lived in great 
peace until his sudden death, in 1870. He and his 
Avife being on a visit to his brother Arthur, at Graves' 
Shoal, after dinner he went to the barn to saddle 
the horses, to return with his wife to their home 
at Paintsville, when one of the animals kicked him 
so severely that he died almost instantly. His 
death was not only a sad blow to his family, but 
was profoundly regretted by the entire people of 
the valley ; for in more respects than one a prince 
among the people had fallen when the life went 
out of the body of Moses, or Coby, Preston. While 
his death was sudden and unexpected to him and 
others, he had had the sagacity to make ample pro- 
vision for his wife, and had, as his sons started out 
in business, aided them with a liberal hand ; so 



80 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



that no family jar rent the bonds that bound the 
family together, after he had left the busy haunts 
of men. Mr. Preston was an honest man, the 
noblest work of God. 

Coby, or Moses, Preston took a deep interest in 
political affairs, although he was never an office- 
seeker. He ignored, to some extent, Church form- 
ularies, but squared his life by the Golden Rule. 
His portrait will be recognized by the old-time 

Sandians as one 
of peculiar cor- 
rectness. 

The modern- 
built brick man- 
sion, the Paints- 
ville residence of 
his son, Captain 
Frank Preston, 
bears testimony 
to the progress 
of architecture 
in the Sandy 
Valley. He is, in some respects, the representative of 
the family. He is a man of wealth, character, and 
enterprise, and has the confidence of the entire 
community in which he lives, as a merchant, a 
timber-dealer, a steamboatman, and general busi- 
ness man. He married into one of the most prom- 
inent families of the Sandy Valley, a daughter of 
General Daniel Hager. He sends his sons and 




Kesidence of Frank Preston, Paintsville, Ky. 



THE MARR FAMILY. 81 

daughters to the best colleges and schools, to re- 
ceive their mental training. Himself and family 
are members and liberal supporters of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South. He, like his father, 
is a strong Democrat, but not an office-seeker. 

James, another son, died many years ago. 
Greenville lives in Texas. Martin is, and has al- 
ways been, a prominent business man of Paints- 
ville, and has a son engaged in literary pursuits, 
besides being a lawyer and preacher. Moses rose 
to eminence as a merchant, but died many years 
ago. His wife, another daughter of General Hager, 
after her first husband's death, married Dr. Turner, 
a prominent citizen of Paintsville. William and 
Montraville are both prosperous farmers and saving 
business men, living near Paintsville. 



THE MARR FAMILY, 

Of the Sandy Valley, is one of French origin, de- 
scendants of the Hugilenots. The family settled in 
Maryland before the American Revolution. They 
served the cause of freedom, and were good patriots. 
The Marr family spread over the land, from 
the ancient seat in Maryland, to South Carolina, 
and numbers among its members many whose deeds 
have made them noted in business and literature. 
The grandfather of Thomas Marr, of Catlettsburg, 
came to Sandy before the commencement of the 
present century, and settled in the John's Creek 



82 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

country. One of his sons married a Miss May, a 
daughter of Thomas May, of Shelby, Pike County. 
Thomas Marr and his brothers are descended from 
that union, on their maternal side. 

The Marrs have ever been held in esteem for 
their integrity and fair dealing, and by intermar- 
riage are allied to many of the old houses of the 
valley. Hon. James Marr, a brother of Thomas, is 
the efficient prosecuting attorney of Letcher County. 
Another brother is a prominent business man of 
Pike. 

The Marrs have ever been noted for the firm- 
ness with which they stood by that which they 
thought to be right. They favor all measures cal- 
culated to make men better citizens. They are pa- 
trons of religion, and in politics are firm Democrats. 

Captain Thomas married the second daughter of 
Benjamin Williamson. He and his family are 
among Catlettsburg's most prominent people. 



THE MAY FAMILY, 

Of the Sandy Valley, were here by its representa- 
tives as early as 1796. The author has failed to 
gather any material on which to base a consecutive 
history of the doings of the May family. 

Thomas May was the first, or, at least, amongst 
the first, of the family coming from Virginia and 
settling on Shelby Creek. He was a very jovial 
man, fond of fiddling and dancing, and popular 



THE MAYO FAMILY. 83 

with his neighbors. He owned more slaves than 
any man on Sandy, either in his day or since, foot- 
ing up in number seventy-one. 

Other branches of the family settled further 
down the river, more largely at Prestonburg. They 
liave spread over a half-dozen counties in the Sandy 
Valley and adjacent section. The Mays have from 
the beginning been at the front in public life, one 
of them representing his district in Congress. Col- 
onel A. J. May developed into greater renown as 
an officer in the Confederate army than any other 
native of Sandy. He is a middle-aged man, now 
living in Tazewell County, Virginia, where he has 
practiced law ever since the close of the Civil War. 

Many of the Mays filled county and legislative 
offices. David, of Pike County, especially, has been 
foremost as a public man. Several of the Mays 
are local preachers in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South. The Mays of the immediate Sandy 
Valley are Democrats, but some of them in other 
and distant counties are Republicans. 



THE MAYO FAMILY 

Is ONE of the oldest, as well as one of great respect- 
ability, in the valley. Jacob came from Fluvanna 
County Virginia, and was appointed clerk of the 
Floyd Circuit Court in 1800. Harry B. and Wil- 
son came later. 

Lewis Mayo came to the valley in 1837. He 



84 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

was a finely educated man, and devoted his life to 
teaching. He raised a family of sons and daughters, 
who well kept up the reputation of the Mayo house. 

L. D. Walton married one of Lewis Mayo's 
daughters. The wife of Harry Davis, at the mouth 
of John's Creek, is another. William Borders, of 
Paintsville, married a third. Mrs. Allen P. Borders 
is a daughter of the same ; and the wife of Hon. 
James E. Stewart is the youngest one of these fair 
daughters. A son, who bears his father's given 
name, is a merchant on Sandy. 

The various branches of the Mayo tree have 
spread to all parts of the valley, carrying with them 
industry, morality, and intelligence. 



NERI SWEATNUM 

And family came from near Washington City in 
Virginia, in 1818, and bought an immense boundary 
of land on Blaine, which is known to this day as 
the Sweatnum neighborhood. He was a man of 
wealth and fine manners, as was also his wife, who 
was a Cross. Their home was the resting-place of 
the Methodist preachers, for they were ardent 
Methodists. It was the stopping-place for most of 
the great lawyers and statesmen who so frequently, 
in an early day, passed by the Sweatnum neighbor- 
hood on the road from Louisa to West Liberty, 
and from the interior of the State to the Sandy 
country. 



NERI SWEATNVM. 85 

Mr. Sweatnum and wife, in their day, often en- 
tertained Judge French, Leander Cox, Richard 
Menifee, John M. McConnell, Watt Andrews, Judge 
James M. Rice, and other noted men. Although 
Mr. Sweatnum was a strong Henry Clay Whig, he 
always said that he liked Judge Rice, of his own 
county, better than any of the great men who 
stopped with him. Rice was much younger than 
he, and his jolly, ardent nature, as well as the great 
talents of the judge, won the love of his heart. 

Mr. Sweatnum had a servant named " Bill," 
who used to attend the elections with gingerbread, 
to sell for his own profit, and was sharp enough to 
cry it off as JRice-caJces, if Rice was a candidate, 
knowing that Master Rice was very liberal to the 
blacks, if he was a slave-owner ; and that while his 
own master was a Whig, and Rice a Democrat, his 
personal liking for the judge would cause *him to 
wink at his selfish zeal in promoting the election 
of a Democrat. 

Mr. Sweatnum died in 1861, his wife pireceding 
him two years. He had six sons and two daughters. 
Dr. Sweatnum, of Louisa, is the youngest son. 
John Sweatnum, of Bath, another. Claiborne Sweat- 
num, Neri, and Elza Sweatnum, the three latter of 
Blaine, are the living sons, Zephaniah having long 
since died in Iowa. Mrs. Judge Dean is a grand- 
daughter of Neri Sweatnum, Sen., and so is the 
wife of the author of this book. He has three or 
four grandsons, who are noted physicians, among 



86 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

them Dr. J. M. Sweatnum, of Omaha, Nebraska. 
Many of his descendants are in California ; and his 
yonngest daughter, Avith her husband, John Osburn, 
lives in Arizona. The oldest daughter was the 
wife of Robert Walter, both of whom have been 
dead for many years. 

The great landed estate of Mr. Sweatnum is 
every foot held sacred by his descendants, who still 
keep alive the family traditions. Mr. Sweatnum 
was a good man and true, and his family came to 
honor. 

" Bill,^^ the old slave spoken of, lives in Cat- 
lettsburg, coming slyly from Ironton, at which 
place he had taken shelter from the Knights of 
Birchbark, a very brave band that, ten years ago, 
terrorized many poor people, both white and black, 
for having but one shirt to wear, and whose wives 
went barefooted. " Poor Old Bill '' scampered 
away from Kentucky soil simply because the old 
man believed in Avitches. He is near ninety years 
old, yet does as good, honest work as men of fifty ; 
and had he now the value for all the hard work he 
has done, he could pay for the Alger House, the 
Opera-house, and Carpenter's mammoth house 
thrown in. 

JOHN FREW STEWART 

Was born in December, 1833, in Western Pennsyl- 
vania, and was educated at Westminster College, 
New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, continuing there 



JOHN FREW STEWART. 



87 



for three years. He then followed teaching for six 
or seven years, when, in 1859, he began the study 
of law in the office of Moore & Gallup, at Louisa, 
procuring his license in 1860. In August, 1862, 
he was elected county attorney of Lawrence County, 
Ky. He entered the army as a private in Sep- 
tember, 1862. At the organization of his company, 
in November of 
the same year, 
he was commis- 
sioned second 
lieutenant of the 
same, and at the 
organization o f 
the regiment 
(T h i r t y-n i n t h 
Kentucky volun- 
teers ) February ^ 
16, 1863, he was 
promoted to first 
lieutenant and 
adjutant of the 
regiment, in 
which capacity he served to November, 1864, when 
he was promoted to major of his regiment. 

His first appearance in Kentucky was as prin- 
cipal of Big Sandy Academy, at Catlettsburg, in 
October, 1857. Many of the prominent young men 
of the Sandy Valley were students under him, 
notably the Moore boys, the Richardsons, Prichards, 




J. FREW STEWART. 



88 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Burgesses^ Pattons ; also, S. G. Kinner, our Com- 
monwealth's attorney, and many others. In Johnson 
County, where he lives, he has been deputy collector 
internal revenue. United States commissioner, county 
school commissioner, and county judge. Judge 
Stewart is married, but has no children. He owns 
and occupies a beautiful homestead in Paintsville. 
In politics he is a Republican. In religion he is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



ALBIN STEIN. 



The picture of Mr. Stein is produced to repre- 
sent the German element of the Sandy Valley, and 
also to represent the manufacturing industries, and, 
furthermore, to represent an old-time house, some 
of the members of which came to the valley in an 
early day. The Steins have the blood of the So- 
vains, an old honored family of Alsace-Lorraine, 
coursing through their veins. The Sovains had 
representatives in America at Philadelphia in 1755. 
Their descendants came early to the Sandy Valley, 
and by marriage have become allied to some of the 
most prominent people in East Kentucky. 

Charles Stein, the father of Albin, came to the 
Sandy Valley from Germany, and set up a tannery 
near Catlettsburg in 1852. After several years 
he returned to the father-land, and finally married 
there. But, once breathing the free air of America, 
he was not satisfied in a country overrun with 



ALBIN STEIN. 



89 



kings, dukes, and petty princes, and resolved to 
make his permanent home in the land of the free. 
Having a son born to him, he was anxious to have 
him educated in the universities of Germany, and 
it was arranged that the mother should remain in 
Germany with the son until his education was com- 
pleted. The father, returning to Catlettsburg, com- 
menced at once to prepare the way for mother and 
son to join him 
so soon as the 
b o y \s education 
was finished. Af- 
ter many trips, on 
the part of the 
father, over the 
sea, young Albin's 
mental training 
was completed, 
and in 1877 the 
family were all 
together in Cat- 
lettsburg. 

Albin is the junior member of the firm of 
Charles Stein & Son, tanners, Catlettsburg, now the 
most important industry in the place. The Steins 
are an educated people. Albin speaks several lan- 
guages with fluency. He is an official member in 
the Presbyterian Church, is an ardent Odd Fellow 
and Mason, and a young man of society. 

8 




ALBIN STEIN. 



90 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

BENJAMIN SPRADLING, 

Of Paintsville, who is near ninety years old, came 
to the neighborhood, where he still lives, from Lee 
County, Virginia, in 1796. Wild beasts and In- 
dians roamed the valleys and hills when he first 
came to the country. But his good genius and 
strong constitution have been sufficient to success- 
fully withstand these, for he is as hale and hearty 
as some men are at sixty. His descendants are 
numerous, and include many of the best people in 
Johnson and adjacent counties. He is Paintsville's 
oldest citizen. 

THE CASTLE FAMILY 

Is a remarkable family in numbers. They are to 
be found in every county in the valley. They are 
mostly farmers, though a number are engaged in 
the trades, while some are merchants, and some are 
professional men. James Castle, a former citizen 
of Johnson County, moved to Missouri several years 
ago, where one of his daughters developed into 
great prominence as a vocalist. His son, George 
W. Castle, is a prominent citizen and lawyer of 
Louisa. John W. Castle, another son, is postmaster 
at Paintsville, and is an extensive manufacturer of 
burial-cases. He is a local preacher in the Meth- 
odist Church, South. The James Castle family are 
Democrats, while many other members of the Castle 
family in Johnson County are Republicans. 



THE SCOTT FAMILY, 91 

THE STEPPS, OF MARTIN, 

Came to the valley among the first settlers, and 
were brave pioneers. The older ones were noted 
hunters. The grandfather of Judge Stepp under- 
took to construct a plow by making the shovel out 
of a sugar-kettle. After breaking up the old boiler 
until he had gotten it in the shape of a shovel for 
a plow, he was perplexed how to make the hole in 
which to put the wooden bolt to fasten the iron to 
the upright. But an idea struck him, and he at 
once carried out the thought, by which the difficulty 
was overcome. He cut out a patch from his linen 
shirt, and stuck it on the old kettle where he 
wanted the hole made, and ordered his son to place 
a good load in the trusty rifle, and let her rip. 
The hole was made and the plow was soon finished, 
and plowing set in on the Stepp estate. What hard- 
ships did our ancestors have to endure in opening 
up the Sandy Valley to civilization ! Old Grand- 
father Stepp should have had a patent issued to him 
for his invention. 

Judge Stepp, one of his many descendants, was 
one of the best county judges Martin County has 
ever had. 

THE SCQTT FAMILY, 

Of Pike, while not among the oldest of the early- 
time families, is quite noted for its standing and 
respectability. William Scott was the oldest ances- 



92 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

tor of the family. He came from Virginia, and 
settled on John's Creek, in Pike Connty. The 
Scotts have ranked as good farmers, traders, and 
merchants. John and Henderson Scott are among 
the best merchants of the John's Creek Valley. 
William Scott, their consin, first husband of Mrs. 
Ferrell, of Pike, was a very successful merchant at 
that place, but died many years ago, greatly re- 
spected. 

THE STAFFORDS, 

Constituting the large and influential house of 
that name living principally in Johnson, came from 
Giles County, Va., in 1808, and settled in what is 
now Johnson County. They have ever been noted 
for their industry and thrift. Many of the StaiFords 
are wealthy farmers and traders, and stand well in 
their community. They are Democrats, as a rule ; 
are Methodists and Christians. John Stafford, of 
White House Shoals, was a man of wealth and great 
prominence in his day. He raised a large family 
of sprightly daughters, who became wives of a 
number of the first young men of the valley. He, 
was a distinguished old-time Methodist, the Stafford 
mansion being a great stand for the early itinerant 
preachers, who preached in the house. 



JOHN SMITH. 93 

JOHN SMITH, 

The father of Lindsay Smith, of Round Bottom, 
West Virginia, and Edmund M. Smith, of Catalpa, 
Kentucky, Mrs. PoweH, Mrs. Hatton, and Mrs. 
WiUiam Pollard (formerly Mrs. Maupin) — all three 
living on the waters of the Sandy, near their place 
of birth — came, when a boy, from North Carolina, 
about 1809, and took up his abode with his kins- 
men, the father and uncles of Abraham and Ross 
Cyrus. From earliest boyhood he gave signs 
of the thrift and economy that marked his days of 
manhood ; for John Smith, or Uncle Jack, as he was 
called by the younger people around him, while he 
was comparatively young himself (he died before he 
reached sixty years), was looked upon as the most 
intensely hard-working man on Sandy, and at the 
same time one of the best financial managers in his 
community. Of course, he succeeded in accumu- 
lating an ample fortune, owning that splendid farm 
now owned and occupied by his son, Lindsay Smith, 
known as the Round Bottom,- in West Virginia, on 
Sandy River, besides much other property. He did 
a good part for his children, leaving them a hand- 
some competency ; and as those traits so essential to 
success in economic life were transmitted to each of 
them, even to the third generation, no family on 
Sandy holds a higher average in material prosperity 
than the John Smith family, of Round Bottom. 
Many of his descendants are occupying places of 



94 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

trust and honor in the communities where they live, 
and no family, taken as a whole, stands better and 
higher in the social and Church circles than does 
this noted family. The members of the entire fam- 
ily are either members of, or lean toward, the Meth- 
odist Church, South. In politics they are Democrats. 

Mr. Smith died about 1856. His consort lin- 
gered on the shore of time till 1885, having passed 
nearly ninety yearly mile-stones before she was fol- 
lowed to the silent city of the dead, loved and hon- 
ored by her children, grandchildren, and great- 
grandchildren, and esteemed by her neighbors for 
her many virtues and Christian graces. Her daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Hatton, fell a victim to poison, adminis- 
tered by some fiend, who attempted to destroy her 
entire household, in December, 1886. 

Rev. Joe H. Wright, of Wright^s Station, mar- 
ried a granddaughter of John Smith and wife. 
Bascom Butler, the prominent railroad official of 
the Chatterawha, married another ; Hon. Albert 
Fulkerson, of Kansas, still another ; and the accom- 
plished wife of John F. Hager, the noted attorney 
of Ashland, is also a granddaughter; besides other 
alliances equally notable. Charles H. Warren, the 
noted merchant of Bockville, married a great-grand- 
daughter of this honored pair. 



THE STEWART FAMILY. 95 



THE STEWART FAMILY. 



The Stewart family, of Boyd — or at least the 
family of which the Hon. James E. Stewart is the 
representative (for several families bearing the same 
name are unrelated to each other) — are of Irish 
descent. James Stewart, grandfather of James E. 
Stewart, and father of Colonel Ralph Stewart, came 
from Giles County, Virginia, in 1813, and settled 
on the Sandy in what was afterwards Lawrence 
County. Some years after James Stewart came with 
his family from Giles County, Virginia, his aged 
father came out to see him. He was born and 
raised in Ireland, and w^as the earliest ancestor of 
this branch of the Stewart family in America, al- 
though other branches of the prolific tree had gone 
from Ireland to Connecticut, from whence they 
spread west into Pennsylvania and Ohio. Colonel 
Ralph Stewart, the son of James Stewart, was a 
young man when he came with his father to the 
Sandy Valley, for he was born in 1792. In 1829 
he married America, daughter of Reuben Canter- 
bury, of Canterbury. His wife was many years 
younger than he. 

Colonel Stewart owned and cultivated a large 
farm on Durbin Creek, near the Sandy River, where 
he resided until his death in 1876. He was a man 
of strict integrity, and was always regarded as one 
of the prominent men of his county. While not a 
seeker after place, he filled many positions of trust 



96 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

and honor. He raised a large family of children, 
who have reflected credit on their good training by 
him and their mother. Their eldest son, 

HON. JAMES E. STEWART. 

On coming to age, studied law, and opened an office 
at Paintsville in 1855. He soon after married Miss 
Cynthia, daughter of Lewis Mayo, one of the lead- 
ing men of the Middle Sandy Valley. The war 
coming on, 1861, found Mr. Stewart a sympathizer 
with the Southern side, and for words spoken in its 
favor he was sent to Camp Chase, where he re- 
mained a prisoner for a year or more. On being 
released by exchange, he returned home. Soon after 
this the oil fever struck the Sandy Valley, and Mr. 
Stewart's knowledge of law, and also of business, 
enabled him to make quite a snug thing out of the 
venture. After the war he bought a handsome 
property in Louisa, to which place he moved, and 
where he still resides. He filled the ofiice of dis- 
trict prosecutor for six years, and also for the same 
length of time he was judge of the Criminal Court 
of his district. He filled both offices with great sat- 
isfaction to the people. He is now engaged in his 
law practice, and also in other business. One of 
his bright sons was called away by death when just 
entering on what seemed to be a career of useful- 
ness. The Stewarts have ever been Democrats of 
the most pronounced type, and James E. Stewart is 
no exception to the rule. They are also Methodists 



THE RA TLIFF FAMIL Y. 97 

in religion, Mr. Stewart being a prominent layman 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Louisa. 
Colonel Kalph Stewart's widow died December 27, 
1886, aged seventy-four years. 

John Stewart, a brother of Colonel Ralph Stew- 
art, married a Miss Burgess, a daughter of an old 
settler of that name, and one of the ancestors of the 
house of Burgess, of Boyd and Lawrence. 



THE RATLIFF FAMILY 

Are among the oldest settlers on Sandy. James 
Batliff was the founder of the house, coming to 
Pike near the commencement of the present century. 
He was a man of strong convictions, ^and always 
sided with the cause of virtue and morality. His 
son. General Katliif, was also a man of great mental 
vigor and of strong will. For twenty years he was 
sheriff of his county, and filled other places of trust 
and honor. A daughter of his is the honored wife 
of Cob Cecil, Sen.,* of Catlettsburg, and a sister is 
the widow of the late John N. Richardson, of Cat- 
lettsburg. Mrs. Colonel John Dills, Jr., is a daugh- 
ter of General Ratliff. W. O. B. Ratliff, a descend- 
ant of the general (a grandson), is a man of mark 
in the valley and a large timber-dealer. 

The family has spread over the entire valley, and 
embraces a host of people, many occupying prominent 
places in the affairs of life. Firmness and decision 
of character, with great individuality, are character- 

9 



98 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

istics of the family, which has done much to shape 
the destiny of the valley. The prominence of this 
family deserves more than this passing notice ; but 
the author was unable to procure any of the family 
annals to draw from. 



THE RUNYONS, 

Of Pond, were North Carolinians. Aaron, the an- 
cestor, came with his wife to what is now Pike 
County, in 1795. His son John, a little boy, came 
with them. John was the father of Mitchell, who 
died near Catlettsburg in 1880, aged fifty-six; his 
father dying in 1840. In addition to Mitchell were 
Asa H., who owns a nice farm on the Sandy River, 
three miles from the mouth, in Boyd County (he 
moved from Tug Valley in 1884), John C, Thomas, 
Wm. A., Aaron, and Moses, the youngest. Sarah 
married William McCoy, and Matilda, another 
daughter, died young. 

The Runyons have ever been noted for industry, 
economy, and good morals. They are all good 
livers, and some of them might be called wealthy. 
They are a strict Baptist family, and keep the faith 
of their fathers. They are moderate Democrats in 
politics. They have always taken a decided inter- 
est in the cause of education. 



JOHN D. MIMS. 99 

RULE FAMILY. 

Andrew Rule, the ancestor of the Rules, was 
born March 16th, 1787, and died in 1883, aged 
ninety-six years. He came to Sandy in 1808, and 
settled on Paint Creek, two miles from Paintsville, 
in 1813, where he lived all of his life. He was a 
good farmer and good business man, whose family 
has ever been noted for thrift and energy. His de- 
scendants are numbered among the best in the 
valley. 

JAMES RICHMOND, 

In about 1840, came to the Sandy Valley as an 
itinerant dry-goods merchant. By close attention 
to business he became a very successful merchant 
at the mouth of John's Creek, accumulating con- 
siderable wealth. He died suddenly in the early 
part of the Civil War, leaving a son and a daugh- 
ter. The son, John Richmond, married a daughter 
of Samuel Auxier. He is a farmer and store- 
keeper near the mouth of John's Creek. The 
daughter is the wife of Elijah Auxier. 



JOHN D. MIMS 



Came to the Sandy Valley about 1833, with a stock 
of goods, and opened a store in Pikeville, Ky. He 
prospered, and accumulated considerable wealth, 



100 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

having the great ginseng and fur trade as a founda- 
tion on which his business rested. In 1854 he 
moved to Catlettsburg, and continued in business 
as a merchant there until he was permanently dis- 
abled by a paralytic stroke in 1883. He died in 
1886. Mr. Minis carried on a large tannery at 
Catlettsburg for fifteen years. It is now the prop- 
erty of C. Stein & Son. He was a native of 
Lynchburg, Virginia, and was a young man when 
he settled in Pikeville. He first married a Miss 
Atkins, who, dying, left two children — Colonel 
David A. Mims and Mrs. Martin Fulkerson. He 
then married a Miss Friend, of Prestonburg, a 
sister of Mrs. John Henry Ford and of Mrs. Cap- 
tain A. C. Hailey. A number of sons and two 
daughters were born of the latter marriage. One 
of the daughters (the eldest) married a Mr. Kilgore, 
and lives in Minnesota. The youngest daughter 
married W. T. Young, and lives in Catlettsburg. 
Three of the sons — Robert, Theodore, and John — 
live in Minnesota. Colonel David A. Mims is a 
real-estate dealer in Garden City, Kansas. Lon 
Mims, another son, is a prosperous wholesale hard- 
ware merchant at Catlettsburg. Few men for fifty 
years filled a more prominent position in Sandy 
commerce than did John D. Mims. 



CAPTAIN THOMAS D. MARCUM. 



101 



CAPTAIN THOMAS D. MARCUM. 
JosiAH Marcum, the great-grandfather of Cap- 
tain T. D. Marcum, settled in the Lower Sandy 
Valley almost as early as any other settler on th« 
Sandy. His seat was near where Cassville, Virginia, 
now stands. He 
was a typical 
hunter, and en- 
countered the 
roving Indians. 
Like most hunt- 
ers, Josiah was 
an expert gun- 
smith, which art 
has descended to 
many of his off- 
spring. The 
subject of this 
sketch when a 
small boy worked 
at the business 
with his father, 
who was, in addition, a blacksmith as well. The 
opportunities of Captain Marcum to obtain an 
education were few indeed. Being the oldest of 
a large family, he was kept busy in the shop and on 
the farm, assisting in making a support for his little 
brothers and sisters. But having a bright, active 




CAPTAIN T. D. MARCUM. 



102 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

mind, and an inherent determination to rise in the 
world, he applied himself to the study of every book 
on education which fell in his way, and obtained all 
the advantages possible while attending the few and 
imperfect schools possible for him to attend. With 
these disadvantages to contend against, it is greatly 
to his credit that, on reaching eighteen years of age, 
he was found teaching school at the Falls of Tug, 
and was held to be the best teacher in the country. 

When the war against the Government at Wash- 
ington came upon the country, young Marcum, at 
an early period, declared for the Union, and enlisted 
as a private in the 14th Kentucky Volunteer In- 
fantry. He was made lieutenant, and at the battle 
of Middle Creek, in 1862, acted with great gallantry 
as aid to the commander on that occasion. He went 
with the regiment in its marches through Georgia, 
and by his dash and courage was often on the staif 
of his superior officer. In 1864 he was made cap- 
tain of his company. After serving with bravery 
and courage for some time, he resigned, and came 
home, and immediately commenced the study of the 
law. He was admitted to the bar at Louisa, Ky., 
where he practiced until he was elected register of 
the land-office in 1875, running ahead of his ticket. 
It is conceded by his political friends and opponents 
that he made the best register ever filling the office. 

In 1878 he came with his family to Catlettsburg, 
and started the Kentucky Democrat, which he still 
edits and publishes. Quotations from the columns 



THE AVXIERS. 103 

of the Democrat are more numerous than from most 
papers of the State. The circulation is greater than 
any country political paper in the State. 

Captain Marcum aided his five younger brothers 
in obtaining an education, and helped them to a 
better way in life. Of the six brothers, four are 
lawyers — one the attorney of Lawrence County; 
one the county attorney of Wayne County, W. Va. ; 
and another a bright lawyer at Cassville; while 
another brother holds an important office in the leg- 
islative department of West Virginia. Still another 
is a prominent business man and marshal of the 
town of Catlettsburg. 

Captain Marcum has a wife and two grown 
daughters, and a son. The family are refined, and 
grace the best circles of social life. The entire 
household are working members of the Baptist 
Church. 

As an editor Captain Marcum uses a free lance, 
and cuts keen ; but after an affray he is as calm as 
any knight of the quill dare be, and holds himself 
ready for the next fray. 



THE AUXIERS. 



The following family annals of the Auxiers were 
furnished the author by Major John B. Auxier, of 
John^s Creek. The major is now seventy years old, 
and has a vivid recollection of many things that 
occurred sixty years ago ; but most of the informa- 



104 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

tion he gives was obtained from his father and 
his father^s three oldest brothers, from his great 
uncle, Simon Auxier, and from old Mother Hager, 
the mother of General Daniel Hager, who is him- 
self now an octogenarian. 

The great-great-grandfather of Major Aaxier, 
brothers and sister, came to Pennsylvania from the 
Rhine, in Germany, in 1755. His wife was a Hol- 
lander. They lived in Pennsylvania until after the 
Revolutionary War. They had five sons. Simon, 
the oldest, served seven years, or during the Revo- 
lutionary War. He was under Washington at the 
battle of Trenton ; Avas with the troops sent from 
Virginia to aid General Greene in the South ; was 
at the battle of Guilford Court-house, and was at 
Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. Samuel, 
the grandfather of Major John B., volunteered 
when fifteen years old, and served the last three 
years of the war ; the other boys were too young to 
make soldiers. 

After that war the major's great-grandfather, 
whose given name was Michael, settled in Russell 
County, Virginia. His son Samuel, the grandfather 
of the major, came with his wife, Sally Brown, to the 
Block-house Bottom in 1791. The Hammons and 
some other families came with them, and built two 
block-houses one-half a mile below the mouth of 
John's Creek. On the 7th of August, in the same 
year, Samuel Auxier, father of the major, was born. 



THE AUXIERS. 105 

In 1795 the grandfather of the major moved down 
into the Bottom. 

In 1798 or ^99 the few men in the neighbor- 
hood agreed to meet at the mouth of Middle Creek 
and go on a buffalo-hunt. When the horn sounded 
to move, the grandfather of the major, then in his 
prime, fell back from the main body of huntsmen, 
and to overtake them spurred on his horse, which 
shied against a tree, and so wounded him that 
he died in eight or nine days. He was buried in 
the Block-house Bottom. His death was felt to be 
a great loss to the early settlers. 

In 1813 the major's father, the late Samuel 
Auxier, married Rebecca Phillips, by whom he had 
eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. 
Nat., the father of A. J. Auxier, of Pike, whose 
picture adorns this book, was the oldest. The wife 
of Samuel Auxier died in 1835, after which he 
married Agnes Wells. By her he had five children, 
three sons and two daughters. Margaret was the 
oldest and Ann the youngest. Sixteen children in 
all composed the Samuel Auxier family. This nu- 
merous host of children grew to honorable man- 
hood and womanhood, and, without an exception, 
formed matrimonial alliances with families of high 
social and moral standing in the valley. The Aux- 
iers are related to most of the better people of the 
valley. 

The grandmother of Major Auxier, wife of the 
Auxier who was killed while on the buffalo-hunt, 



106 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 

and great-grand-aunt of W. W. Brown, of Paints- 
ville, died in about 1862, aged ninety-nine years. 
Simon Auxier, the grand-uncle of the major, died 
near the Mouth in 1825. Michael, one of his 
brothers, died at ninety-nine years of age, in Adams 
County, Ohio, where he lived with his son-in-law. 
This was in sight of Yanceburg, Ky. 

In 1801 or 1802 Samuel Auxier, the father of 
the major, had a little son named Elijah. He was 
some three years old. He followed his brother 
Daniel into the woods, where he was chopping 
timber. There was a thick cane-brake from the 
house to the woods ; but a swath had been cut out, 
leading from the house to the timber. Soon the 
little fellow grew tired of being away from his 
mother, and asked permission to go home. Daniel, 
thinking of no danger to the child, placed him on 
the track and started him homeward. All the aft- 
ernoon Daniel thought the boy safe at home with 
his mother ; the mother, meanwhile as confident he 
was with his brother. When night came on, and 
Daniel returned to the house, he was horror-stricken 
not to see the child. The mother, of course, was 
frantic at the absence of her little pet. Couriers 
were sent out in great haste to Damron's Fort, near 
Pike, and the little settlement near Prater, and 
over to the Station on Licking, notifying the men 
that little 'Lige Auxier was lost in Block-house 
Bottom. The men were not invited to go in search 
of the lost child ; but, true to the native instinct of 



THE AUXIERS, 107 

humanity so conspicuous in the early settlers, they 
took up their rifles and a wallet of wild meat, and 
started on the run to the scene of distress. Some 
of the brave, noble men sprang from their leafy 
beds, and sallied forth on their mission of mercy. 
Who does not feel like offering up a petition to 
the Father of all good to send blessings down on 
the heads of their descendants? The men divided 
in sections, and scoured the country for miles 
around, never giving up the search until a week 
had passed. 

Some wild beast had dragged the little boy to 
its lonely den, and devoured him. 

Daniel Boone was certainly on Sandy. In 1795 
or '96 he came to the Block-house, and joined Nat. 
Auxier, the uncle of the major, in a bear, deer, and 
wolf hunt on Greesy Creek, in what is now John- 
son County. They built a camp on that stream, 
still known as Boone's Camp. A post-office, bearing 
the name, is located at the camp; M. L. K. Wells, 
a brother-in-law of Dr. Z. Meek, is the postmaster. 
Nat's Creek, below, was named after Nat. Auxier, 
who killed many bears, deer, and wolves on the 
serpentine stream. 

The author has used the name of Major John B. 
Auxier to save space, and as the major is now the 
oldest living representative of the sturdy house of 
Auxier, so famous in the valley, the other members 
of the family can not but justify us in this course. 
The Auxiers were always respected, and were qual- 



108 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



ified to fill any public trust ; but their modesty has 
always been equal to their bravery, and seldom has 
any of them stood for office. John B. has been 
surveyor of his county, and was a major in the 
Union army. Nathaniel, the father of A. J. Aux- 

ier, now of Pike, 
was by many re- 
g a r d e d as the 
most brainy man 
of his day. He 
died in 1867. 
His son, A. J., 
is a lawyer and 
f i 1 1 e d for one 
term the office of 
District Attorney 
with great vigor. 
He has also been 
United States 
Marshal for the 
District of Ken- 
tucky. Other members of the house have filled of- 
ficial stations. Of the sixteen children of Samuel 
Auxier, thirteen still survive. In politics the Aux- 
iers are divided. In religion they are Methodists, 
and mostly belong to the Southern branch. 

When Major Auxier was born, not a church was 
found in the valley; coffee was unheard of; a calico 
dress was a curiosity. Mortars to pound the corn 
into meal, and the slow grinding hand-mill, were 




NATHANIEL AUXIER. 



THE AUXIERS, 109 

generally in use, with only here and there a horse- 
mill. Bear's-grease was used for shortening, and 
deer-skins to make breeches for the men and moc- 
casins for the women. School-houses were mere 
shanties, and school-teachers generally took their 
grog to school. Yet faithful preachers went up and 
down the valley, preaching a better life for the 
people. Many heard them gladly, and opened their 
houses for the preaching of the Word. On the 
Lavisa Fork the people were mostly Methodists ; 
on Tug, they were generally Baptists. 

Slaves were numerous, Tom May, of Shelby, 
owning seventy-one; yet no one was "stuck up" 
that held them. The people were all on an equality. 

The living was just splendid. Plenty of bear- 
meat, venison, pheasant, and wild turkey, accom- 
panied with maple molasses, wild honey in the 
comb, and spice-wood or other native teas, formed a 
home-fare good enough to tempt the appetite of an 
epicurean, especially when the brown johnnycake 
was taken into account. Now the people on Sandy 
have all the luxuries of life. They live in painted 
houses, and sleep on downy beds ; the ladies are 
clothed in satin, and the men look with contempt 
on homespun wear. But are they as happy as their 
noble ancestors ? The people of the present gener- 
ation are more knowing than their fathers, and 
therefore their responsibilities are greater. Let 
the descendants of the old-time people do as well in 
proportion to their opportunities, as did their 



110 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

fathers, and the valley will blossom as the rose in 
material, intellectual, social, and religious prosperity. 



REV. Z. MEEK, D. D. 

(See frontispiece for portrait.) 

The Eev. Zephaniah Meek, editor and 
founder of the Central Methodist^ for a short time 
called the Christian Observer , may be properly styled 
a man of destiny. He is now (1887) about fifty- 
four years of age, but when in his usual good health 
looks much younger. He is a Big Sandian by 
birth and education ; Johnson is his native county. 
His father was a man of sprightly mind, lacking 
only aspiration to have brought him to the front as 
a foremost citizen in any community. His mother 
was a woman of strong mind and great force of 
character, rounded up by a sweet Christian spirit. 
She was a model of industry, economy, and thrift, 
more than supplementing her husband's eiforts in 
rearing to manhood and womanhood a large family 
of sons and daughters, many of them now occupy- 
ing advanced and honorable places in the community 
where they live. 

Zephaniah, the second son, like most Big Sandy 
boys, as well as girls, married young. He chose 
for his wife Miss Mary Jane Davis, a member of an 
honorable, old-time Sandy Valley family. She, by 
her solid sense, wise counsel, and fervent piety, has 
proven herself a worthy helpmate all along the road 



EEV. Z. MEEK, D. D. Ill 

of married life. He, with his young wife, after a 
few years in business in the eountry, settled in 
Paintsville, the capital of Johnson County. Having 
in his boyhood days but few opportunities to procure 
an education, he used these the best he could, and 
supplemented the lack of high-schools and academies 
by reading and studying the best books obtainable 
by loan or purchase. By systematic study, consecu- 
tively pursued, he was at thirty superior in knowledge 
and mental culture to almost any of his age in his 
native county. His religious independence in his 
early youth was so marked as to cause him to pass 
by the door of the church of his own people to enter 
the communion of one more liberal and broad in 
doctrine and discipline. He at once entered upon a 
career which, under the circumstances, is almost 
marvelous. 

In early life he taught school, like most men who 
have come to prominence. Then he acted as county 
and Circuit Court clerk, and for some years mer- 
cantile pursuits engaged his time, all the while adding 
to his fund of knowledge by every means within his 
grasp. 

On coming to manhood he was licensed to preach 
as a local or lay preacher in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, the only organization of Methodism 
above Louisa, from the separation in 1844 to the 
time of the war in 1864. He was regarded as a 
strong man in his Church, as well as an enterprising 
citizen in his community. 



112 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Soon after the close of the war in 1865^ having 
made considerable money in oil speculations, he 
moved to Catlettsburg, and made investments there. 
In the Spring of 1867 he started the Christian Ob- 
server, now called Central Methodist, as 'an organ of his 
Church, employing Rev. Shadrach Hargiss, a man 
of culture and ability, but broken in health and des- 
titute of means, to assist him in its management. 
It soon took high rank, and every week showed 
improvements on the paper. At first the printing 
Avas done by contract at the Herald office ; but the 
young editor chafed under the restraints and draw- 
backs incident to that mode of getting out the paper, 
and at once settled the question by purchasing an 
interest in the Herald office, adding a power-press 
and many other needed appendages. This was in 
1868. The name of the paper was changed to that 
of Central Methodist, and it was made a sixteen-page 
paper, rivaling in workmanship, artistic beauty, 
and general appearance any Church paper of the 
denomination in whose interest it is published, and 
superior to the majority, not only in mechanical 
make-up, but in the ability of its editorials and 
correspondence. 

By the editor's wise management, the paper has 
attained an unprecedentedly large circulation, which 
is constantly increasing. He displays as much 
ability in selecting matter for the columns of the 
paper, and by culling over the correspondence, as 
he does in the vigor of his prolific editorials. The 



REV. Z. MEEK, D. I). 113 

Central Methodist has been a power in lengthening 
the cords and strengthening the stakes of Southern 
Methodism in more conferences than one where it 
circulates. While the editor has his whole mind on 
the welfare of his paper, and, of course, has chosen 
the high and exalted plane of theology in which to 
display his talents, it is well known by many per- 
sons conversant with the fact, that it is not only in 
the field of religious journalism that he excels, but 
he is equally at home when his trenchant pen is indit- 
ing matter for a political paper. It has been an 
open secret for more than a decade of years that he 
was the author of the vigorous and scathing articles 
which appeared in the Herald, a Democratic weekly, 
in 1874, which attracted such wide attention at the 
time, but were attributed to another. 

Mr. Meek has given to all of his numerous chil- 
dren, who have arrived at suitable age, a classical 
education, and to one a university course; while 
another son and all his daughters were trained in 
the halls of a college. The Rev. Lafayette Meek, 
his first-born, after being trained in the East Ken- 
tucky Normal School, spent a year in Millersburg 
College, but transferred to Yanderbilt University, 
taking a varied course, and finishing up in the 
School of Theology. Leaving there, he went out 
into the itinerant field in the Tennessee Conference, 
but," almost at the threshold of what seemed to be 
the commencement of a successful ministry, was 
stricken down with that fell disease, typhoid fever. 

10 



114 THE BIG SAND Y VALLEY. 

He was brought from the malaria-smitten region of 
West Tennessee, his young wife with her infant ac- 
companying him, to his father^s house, where he 
was nursed with loving care, and attended by the 
most scientific physicians, hoping also that a change 
from the polluted air that smote him down, to the 
uncontaminated breath of his native mountains, 
would restore him to health and usefulness. But 
God ruled otherwise. He died on the 2d day of 
October, 1885, in the thirty-first year of his age, 
mourned by all his relatives, and lamented by all 
others who had formed his acquaintance.* 

Mr. Meek has two other grown sons, both well 
trained in the "art preservative of all arts,'' upon 
whom chiefly falls the duty of performing the me- 
chanical work of printing and mailing the paper, 
while a bright daughter, Miss Hessie, greatly aids 
her overworked father in performing the literary 
and clerical labor in the office. 

Technically, Mr. Meek is a traveling elder in 
his conference, but only takes such pastoral charges 
as are within his reach, selecting entirely new ter- 
ritory in which to perform his ministerial work, his 
ardent labors on his "paper being too pressing to 
allow of constant labor in the pastorate. He re- 
ceived the degree of D. D. from the Kentucky 
Military Institute, Farmdale, Kentucky, in 1885, 
which high honor he wears with becoming dignity. 
He was elected the leading delegate to the General 
Conference by the Western Virginia Conference, in 



THE BURNS FAMILY. 115 

1885. This was the more remarkable because at 
the time of the election he was barely eligible to 
that distinguished position. The General Confer- 
ence met in Richmond, Virginia, May, 1886. 



THE BURNS FAMILY. 

The Burnses, of Sandy, are of Scotch origin, 
and came along the same line of descent as Robert 
Burns, the illustrious poet. On the maternal side, 
Elizabeth Roland, of a family made famous in 
French Huguenot history, is their ancestor. Jerry 
Burns, who was the father of Roland T. Burns, 
was in the Revolutionary War. His father and 
uncle came from Scotland and settled in Maryland. 
Jerry married, and from his first union had two 
sons. They went South-west and became noted 
people. 

After the death of his first wife, Mr. Burns, 
who was a noted Methodist preacher of his day, at 
one of his great preaching-places first saw Miss 
Elizabeth Roland, who was a devout worshiper at 
his meeting. In song she was w^onderfully gifted. 
She was a brunette of a most perfect type ; hair as 
black as a raven, heavy eye-brows, a curved lip, 
and a faultless figure. The preacher fell in love 
with her. She accepted his hand and heart, and 
they became one flesh. Some of their children 
were born in the valley of Virginia ; others were 
born in Monroe County, Va., where they had 



116 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

moved about the commencement of the present 
centiuy. The younger ones were born near the 
Mouth of the Sandy. 

We have only space to note the more striking 
historical events in the career of the descendants of 
Jerry Burns and Elizabeth Roland, who were the 
founders of the Burns house in the Sandy Valley. 
No pair in the State has been so highly honored 
by the great number of descendants rising to dis- 
tinction in law, theology, and official stations as 
Jerry Burns and wife. A son went to Missouri, 
where his descendants are in high official place. 
One was a representative in Congress. Another 
went to Oregon, and his descendants rose to dis- 
tinction. California was invaded by another son. 
He, too, left a name above the common walks of 
life. A daughter married James M. Bice, who was 
not only a great lawyer, but a circuit judge and a 
senator besides. Judge Rice's youngest son, John M., 
is now the criminal judge of his district, after twice 
being congressman and State legislator ; and the 
elder brother, Jake, w^as lawyer and legislator. 

Roland T. Burns, the father of W. H. Burns, 
John M. Burns, La Fayette Burns, Roland T. 
Burns, and Elizabeth Handley, was a farmer, a 
preacher, lawyer and legislator. He owned and 
lived on the farm that is now the homestead of 
John Powers, on Bear Creek, Boyd County. He 
practiced his legal profession in a large district, and 
represented Lawrence and Morgan Counties for two 



THE B URNS FAMIL Y, 117 

terms in the Legislature. He preached often, and 
worked with his own hands on his farm. His 
wife, Miss Margaret Keyser, was a noble Christian 
wife and mother. Mr. Burns died at forty -three 
years of age, in 1834. 

The youngest sister of Roland T. Burns was 
the wife of O. W. Martin, a lawyer from Virginia. 

Of the children of Roland T. Burns and Mar- 
garet Keyser, his wife, Wm. Harvey was a fine 
lawyer, and lived in West Liberty, Ky., until the 
commencement of the Civil War, when he moved 
to Lebanon, Va., where he had great success in ac- 
cumulating a vast fortune. He was serving as cir- 
cuit judge in his district when he left the State, 
preferring the Southern cause. He had great abil- 
ity as a lawyer, and was an able, upright judge. 
His brother, John M. Burns, is now serving on the 
bench as circuit judge of the same district, in his 
election carrying every county but one. Judge 
John M. Burns has a son, Roland C, who is at 
the front as a criminal lawyer in the valley. An- 
other son is a physician, who, in addition, is pos- 
sessed of literary gifts, showing the fire of his il- 
lustrious ancestor in Scotland. La Fayette Burns 
is a practical farmer, living near the old homestead 
of his father, greatly respected by his neighbors. 
Roland T. Burns, of Louisa, is an able lawyer, and 
is also engaged in merchandising. He is a man of 
great ability, and could reach almost any official 
position to which he might aspire ; but, being a 



118 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 



devout Christian, he ignores the shameful methods 
used by many seekers of place to gain office ; and, 
furthermore, being a man of wealth and careful in 
business, he thinks " a bird in the hand is worth 
two in the bush.'^ All the Burnses are Democrats, 
excepting Hon. John M. Burns and his sons ; and 
most of them are Southern Methodists, John M. 

again proving the 
exception, he be- 
ing a Regular 
Baptist. The 
only living sister 
of the illustrious 
Burns brothers is 
Mrs. Elizabeth 
Handley, wife of 
Alexander Hand- 
'<*A. r // " / \ ^ X \^ ley, of Wayne 

County, West 
/ / / Virginia. She, 

JUDGE JOHN M. BURNS. 1 i k c hcr father 

and brothers, is talented, and one of the most de- 
voted wives and mothers. 

The Burnses, until the alliance with Elizabeth 
Roland, a French beauty of the perfect brunette 
caste, were all blondes, but the blood of the Hugue- 
nots has changed the type of the family to a full 
brunette. 

We could name several more official places filled 
by this gifted family, but space forbids. 




JUDGE ARCHIBALD BORDERS. 



119 



JUDGE ARCHIBALD BORDERS. 

Akchibald, son of John Borders, was born in 
Giles County, Virginia, in 1798, and came, with 
his father's family, to the Sandy Valley in 1802. 
His father intended going on to the Scioto country, 
but falling sick, stopped near the mouth of Tom's 
Creek, in what is now Johnson County, where he died, 
leaving a widow 
and eight chil- 
dren — four sons and 
four daughters. The 
oldest son settled on 
George's Creek, 
where he died in 
1882, at the age of 
eighty-two. John, y^ 
the second son, also 
settled on George's 
Creek. He died in 
1879 or '80. He 
was a highly re- 
spected Baptist JUDGE ARCHIBALD BORDERS. 

preacher. He, too, lived to a great age. Hezekiah 
settled on the Sandy River at what is known, and 
has been for sixty years, as Borders Chapel. He 
and his wife were great Methodists, and no Meth- 
odist preacher ever passed by the chapel during 
their lives who did not call to see these pious 
people. They passed to their reward many long 




120 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 

years ago ; but a son of theirs, the now aged Joseph 
Borders — the father of Joe H. Borders, once a jour- 
nalist of the Sandy Valley, but now a banker in 
Kansas — owns and lives at the old homestead, to 
represent his honored ancestors. The chapel has 
been rebuilt, and is the best-looking log church in 
the valley. Polly, the oldest daughter, married 
Isom Daniels. They settled on the farm two miles 
below Tom's Creek, now the home of Peter Daniels, 
one of their sons. She died during the Civil War. 
The father and mother left a large number of sons 
and daughters, who have come to honor. More 
than one of the sons is a Baptist minister. Betty 
married Joseph Davis. They settled on the banks 
of the Sandy, at a place well known as Davis Bend, 
This branch of the family also rose to honor. 
The wife of Rev. Z. Meek, D. D., is a daughter of 
this honored pair. John Davis, formerly a leading 
business man of Paints ville, was their son. William 
Davis, the large land-owner in Lawrence and John- 
son Counties, is another son. Daniel, the wealthy 
business man and prominent Republican politician 
of Johnson County, is a grandson. Jemima mar- 
ried Felty Van Hoose. Katie, the youngest, mar- 
ried John Brown, who became a wealthy farmer 
and a noted old-time hotel-keeper on George^s . 
Creek. She is the only one still alive of all the 
John Borders family, and, although over eighty, 
is a well-preserved old lady. Her husband died 
in 1875. 



ARCHIBALD BORDERS. . 121 

It will be seen that the entire household of the 
first Borders who came to Sandy have occupied the 
highest positions known to ordinary life ; and with- 
out detracting from them any meed of praise, it is 
true to say that the brother who was the youngest 
outranked them all, if not in moral worth, in great 
business plans. 

ARCHIBALD BORDERS, 

When a little past twenty-one, married Jane Pres- 
ton, a daughter of Moses Preston the first, and a 
sister of " Coby " Preston. They settled near 
Whitehouse Shoals, and lived there until two of 
their children were born, when they moved down 
to the farm which he possessed when he died. He 
opened up a large and productive farm, ran a large 
store, a tannery, shoe-factory, and saddlery. Those 
branches of trade and industries, it would seem, 
were enough to occupy the full time of any one 
man ; but he also was one of the largest tan-bark 
and timber traders then on the Sandy. Nor did he 
fail in either. In 1860 he built the steamer Sa^idy 
Valley, a boat equal to any of the Sandy steamers 
of to-day. He was not only a man of great in- 
dustry and business capacity, but was a gentleman 
of the most refined tastes. He established a large 
park on his plantation, stocked with a herd of the 
native deer of the mountains, which not only sup- 
plied his table with venison, but the gambols of the 
beautiful creatures added pleasure to himself, his 

11 



122 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

family, and others. He continued to attend to 
business up to within a year or so of his death, 
which occurred November 12, 1886. 

He accumulated a vast amount of land and other 
property, leaving his children well off. During his 
busy life he was a friend of Churches and schools, 
and gave much to support them, yet never made a 
public profession of Christianity until within a 
month of his death. His conversion was mii*acu- 
lous. He prayed the Father to send him the wit- 
ness of his Spirit, and make it so plain that he 
could have no doubt, as he was too weak to prove 
his conversion by an examination of the Word of 
God. He was satisfied, and then asked the great 
Jehovah to reveal to him how he should receive 
the ordinance of baptism, whether by immersion or 
sprinkling. He was told to be sprinkled. He im- 
mediately sent for his kinsman. Rev. Z. Meek, 
D. D., who baptized him and admitted him into the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

Archibald Borders was more than an ordinary 
man, or he could not have borne so many burdens, 
and live up to the age of eighty-eight years. He 
was foreman of the grand jury that indicted one 
Walker, who forfeited his life on the gallows at 
Louisa for murder. He filled the office of justice 
of the peace in Lawrence County from 1834 to 1850, 
when it expired by the death of the old Constitution. 
The same year he was elected the first tiounty judge 
of Lawrence, and was re-elected in 1854, serving 



ARCHIBALD BORDERS. 123 

for eight years. During the great Civil War the 
Borders family were Union people, but always con- 
servative. Since the war the judge and his son 
David, a wealthy citizen of Lawrence, have voted 
oftener for men and measures than at the suggestions 
of party managers. 

Judge Borders and his wife, Jane Preston, had 
five children — four sons and one daughter. Of the 
sons, John and Arthur have long been dead. David, 
to whom we have already referred, is a widower,* 
living on a farm near his father's old home, and 
takes the world easy. Allen P. has one of the finest 
brick residences on the Sandy River. His wife is 
a daughter of the late Lewis Mayo, so well remem- 
bered for his noble traits of character. Julia, the only 
daughter, is the wife of J. W. Dillon, a leading 
man in the business circles of Catlettsburg. After 
the death of her father, Mrs. Dillon had her invalid 
mother brought down to her home, where she might 
better attend to her many wants until the candle of 
her life, which for twenty years has been flickering 
down low in the socket, became extinguished. 

Among the most prominent contemporaries of 
Judge Borders in Lawrence, not yet named, the 
author may mention John D. Ross, Major Bolt, 
Neri Sweatnam, Walter Osburn, and Greenville 
Goble, the father of M. B. Goble, of Catlettsburg. 
All these, save Mr. Sweatnam, Avere called upon to 
fill official stations, and Mr. Sweatnam was as useful 
in private as he could have been in a public station. 



124 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Walter Osburn and John D. Ross are all that linger 
on the shore of time. These Avere, and are, honor- 
able names. 

THE LACKEY FAMILY. 

Of the many noted families coming to the 
Sandy Valley in its early settlement, none were 
more conspicuous than the house of Lackey. Alex- 
ander Lackey, the founder of the house west of the 
mountains, came from Southern Virginia in 1804, 
and settled at the Forks of Beaver, in Floyd 
County. He married the daughter of David Mor- 
gan, a relative of General Daniel Morgan, of Battle 
of the Cowpens fame. 

Mr. Lackey brought slaves and considerable 
property with him from his home in Virginia. 
Commencing the world under favorable auspices, 
with property, selecting one of the richest tracts of 
land in the valley, and backed by his clear judg- 
ment and iron will, he soon rose to distinction, 
both as a successful business man and as a public 
personage. He filled many offices of trust and 
honor, both county and State ; was a representative 
in the Legislature, judge and sheriff, and rose to be 
a general in the militia of his district. He reared 
and educated, in the best schools obtainable, a 
family of sons and daughters who have added luster 
to the name they bore. 



THE LACKEY FAMIL Y. 125 



MORGAN LACKEY, 



Of Prestonburg, son of Alexander, was a delegate 
in the convention of 1849, that framed the present 
Constitution of Kentucky, and filled other offices, 
civil and military, with honesty and fidelity. Most 
of his life he has been a successful merchant at 
Prestonburg, where he is regarded as a citizen 
of the highest attainments in every thing that 
constitutes true manhood. Like all of his fam- 
ily, Morgan Lackey has been not only a Demo- 
crat of Democrats, but has ever been regarded as a 
sagacious politician. But with all this urging him 
forward as a worker within the lines of his party, 
when he witnessed men of the brightest intellect 
and social standing in his town, county, and section 
falling into drunkards' graves, snapping asunder 
the heart-strings of mothers, wives, and sisters, he 
called a halt, and demanded of his fellow-citizens 
that party lines should be loosened until intemper- 
ance, the fountain of all wrong, was driven from the 
Sandy Valley forever. By marshaling the forces 
of temperance, law, and order, through his potent 
influence every grog-shop was driven from his 
town, where the poisonous fluid had for sixty-five 
years held one continuous carnival of death. Not 
satisfied with driving the monster from the town, 
the war was carried into every precinct in the 
county, and to-day (1887) not a drop of liquor is 
sold according to law in the county. 



126 THE BIG SAND Y VALLE Y. 

Morgan Lackey is unmarried, and lives with 
his sister, the widow of Hon. J. P. Martin. Being 
wealthy, he, as he grows in years, spends much of 
his time in leisure, cultivating those virtues which 
lead to a happy old age and a peaceful death. 

GREENVILLE M. LACKEY, 

Another son of General Alexander Lackey, has 
made a history as bright as that of his younger 
brother, Morgan. He has filled a seat in both 
Houses of the Kentucky Legislature, and has borne 
other official honors with credit to himself and 
profit to his constituents. For more than thirty 
years he has resided at Louisa, during all of which 
time he has been a prominent merchant there. He 
is, unlike his brother, a married man, and has two 
sons and one daughter. One son, Alexander, 
named after his grandfather, is a lawyer, rising to 
fame, while the other has been engaged in mer- 
chandising and official business. The daughter is 
the wife of Thomas R. Brown, a son of Hon. George 
N. Brown, a young lawyer of much promise. A 
daughter of General Lackey married 

HON. JOHN P. MARTIN, 

Who came from Virginia about 1828, and com- 
menced the practice of law in Prestonburg, where 
he soon rose to distinction as an able lawyer and 
eloquent speaker. He occupied a seat in both 
Houses of the State Legislature, and was twice 



ALEXANDER L. MARTIN. 127 

elected to the Congress of the United States. Mr. 
Martin was one of the most brilliant men of his 
time, and his suavity of manners made him popular 
with his fellow-citizens of all parties. He died at 
Prestonburg in 1863. Mr. Martin left a son, 

ALEXANDER L. MARTIN, 

Who, like his father, was an able man and a prom- 
inent lawyer of his native town. He filled the 
office of State senator, and received the honor of 
having the county of Martin named for him, and 
the county seat of Elliott to perpetuate his name. 
He married a daughter of Judge George N. Brown — 
a lady of rare grace and loveliness. 

Mr. Martin had apparently started out on a long 
and brilliant life, when death, which loves a shining 
mark, claimed him as a victim, and in 1877 he 
ceased to live. His wife survived him a short 
time, when she, too, suddenly gave up the struggle 
for life, and joined the great throng on the shining 
shore. They left a bright little boy, whose spark- 
ling eyes and manly form show signs of future 
promise ; and a little daughter, of bright and win- 
some mien. 

The eldest daughter of Hon. John P. Martin 
married a Mr. Trimble, a scion of the house of that 
name — a prominent family both in Kentucky and 
Virginia. Mr. Trimble died during the Civil War, 
leaving a widow and two sons, Malcolm and James. 
Both received the best of moral and intellectual 



128 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

training, and on arriving to young manhood en- 
gaged in merchandising in their native town, Pres- 
tonburg. But when the Catlettsburg National 
Bank was opened, the moral, social, and financial 
standing of the Trimble brothers was so fully 
known that James, the younger, was given a prom- 
inent position in the official directory of the bank, 
where he still is, respected and trusted by all. 

Malcolm continued his mercantile course until 
disease preyed upon his constitution, and he was 
borne to the city of the dead, loved, by all who 
ever knew him, for his many Christian virtues and 
his manly bearing. He died in 1885. 

The mother of James and Malcolm, several 
years after the war, married a gentleman from Vir- 
ginia, named Armstrong, a lawyer. They soon after 
moved to Missouri, where, a few years ago, she died. 
The younger daughter, Miss Mousie, married Cap- 
tain John C. Hopkins, who came of a prominent 
family of Tazewell County, Virginia. He is a 
lawyer by profession, but is engaged largely in the 
steamboat interest on Sandy. The family lives in 
Catlettsburg. Mrs. Hopkins, like all of her father's 
children, received a classical education at college. 

SAMUEL DAVIDSON 

Married another daughter of General Lackey. 
Mr. Davidson Avas a bright man from Virginia. 
He reared a large family of sons and daughters, 
who married into prominent families of the valley, 



' JOSEPH M. DAVIDSON. 129 

strengthening the house not only in numbers, but 
in influence. One son, especially, rose to be one of 
the most popular and influential men ever living at 
Prestonburg. 

JOSEPH M. DAVIDSON 

Was a man of a high order of talent. He had re- 
ceived a fine scholastic training ; after which, by 
study and travel, he so polished his nature and en- 
riched his mind that few men in Eastern Kentucky 
were more finished than he. He had been in the 
Legislature of the State, and was one of its shrewd, 
bright politicians. He was a merchant and trader 
of great prominence, and for some time a banker in 
connection with his cousin. Green M. Witten, at 
Catlettsburg. He was a large land-owner in his 
county, and took a deep interest in his county^s 
welfare. He was a very handsome man, and as 
manly as he was handsome. He died in the vigor 
of his manhood in 1883, leaving a widow and sev-. 
eral grown-up daughters. The oldest married Mr. 
Fitzpatrick, the clerk of the Floyd courts. Walter 
S. Harkins, a brilliant attorney of the same place, 
married another daughter. Frank Hopkins mar- 
ried one of the daughters, and Mr. Schmucker still 
another. No man ever died in Floyd whose death 
created such a void as Joseph M, Davidson's. 



1 30 THE BIG SAND Y VALLE Y. 

THOMAS WITTEN, 

From Tazewell County, Virginia, married another 
daughter of Alexander Lackey, They lived princi- 
pally in Tazewell County, although Mr. Witten, for 
many years, was a business man on Sandy. They 
had two sons, who were well educated in Tazewell, 
and trained in mercantile affairs. The youngest 
son died fighting on the Southern side, believing it 
was his sacred duty. The other son. Green M. 
Witten, spent most of his youth and younger man- 
hood in merchandising at Prestonburg, Ky.; and 
for many years he was a noted banker of Catletts- 
burg, where he now lives. He is one of the best 
informed men on most topics to be found in the 
valley. The father has long been dead, and the 
mother more recently quit the shores of time, dying 
on her way to her home in Tazewell County, Va., 
from a visit to friends in the Sandy Valley. 

General Alexander Lackey, the founder of his 
house in the Valley of the Sandy, was a Baptist, 
but was liberal to all Churches. He often spoke 
at religious meetings, although but a layman. The 
greater part of his descendants are adherents of the 
Southern Methodist Church. Mrs. Captain Hop- 
kins and Mrs. Thomas R. Brown, granddaughters, 
are Presbyterians. The general and every one con- 
nected with the family, to the fifth generation, have 
been Democrats ; and Mrs. Mousie Hopkins informs 
us that, in time of the war, she was a rebel. Most 
of the men are Masons. 



HON. M. J. FERGUSON, 



131 



HON. M. J. FERGUSON. 

The Fergusons of the Lower Sandy Valley are 
of Scotch-Irish descent. More than two hundred 
years ago a Ferguson went over to the North of 
Ireland from his Scottish home and married a Miss 
Jemison, an Irish lady. From this pair have de- 
scended the Ferguson family to whom we now 
refer. The given name of so many of the Ferguson 
family is derived 
from their Irish 
maternal a n c e s- 
tor. The Fergu- 
sons are a plucky, 
progressive peo- 
ple, and have held 
a conspicuous 
place in the pub- 
lic affairs of their ' 
count r y and a 
prominence in 
business pursuits. 

Joseph Fer- 
guson, of Ash- 
land, is a promi- 
nent man. He judge milton j. ferguson. 
served as captain in the Confederate army with 
distinction ; but, like his great brother, when the 
war was over he accepted the results with grace, 
and settled down to business, doing all he could to 




132 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

make up for the waste the war had brought upon 
the land. Charles, too, is a true man. He is a 
merchant and farmer at Wayne Court-house, West 
Virginia. 

Colonel M. J. Ferguson was the great repre- 
sentative of his house. He was born in 1833, in 
Wayne County, Virginia, a few miles from Cassville, 
and when but twenty-six years old was looked 
upon as the foremost man of his county. He was 
county attorney ; but, in addition to the duties of 
his office, he had an immense business in settling 
up estates, and other delicate and responsible trusts 
of great magnitude were committed to him, which 
he managed with such consummate ability as to 
receive the plaudits of the wisest financiers. He 
married a daughter of Samuel Wellman, a wealthy 
citizen of Wayne. 

When the call sounded to arms in 1861, Jemi- 
son Ferguson, as every one called him, being a man 
of ardent temperament, rushed into the thickest of 
the fight. His education and feelings leading him 
to take sides with the South, he raised a regiment 
and was mustered into the Confederate service, and 
served with bravery and honor during the great 
struggle. When the war was over he held no 
spite against those who had been successful in end- 
ing the conflict in favor of the old Government, 
but went heroically to work to smooth over the 
places made crooked by the war, and it was hard 
to decide who admired his political liberality most. 



HON. M. J. FERGUSON. 133 

those who fought with him or those who were ar- 
rayed against him. He soon settled in Louisa, and 
in 1868 ran for circuit judge of the Big Sandy Ju- 
dicial District. He was overwhelmingly elected, 
and served with great distinction and ability the 
term of six years. He then retired, to look after 
his great material interests and to practice his 
chosen profession. Few men did more to encour- 
age the building of the Chatterawha Railroad than 
he. He favored every enterprise which was calcu- 
lated to add to the material, educational, and moral 
wealth of the valley. He was cut oif in the midst 
of his usefulness and busy labors, dying on the 2 2d 
of April, 1881. Few deaths could have produced 
a greater sorrow than did that of Judge Ferguson. 
He was a Free Mason of high standing, and was 
an adherent of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South. His motto, all along life's journey, was to 
do justice to all the world, never to forsake his 
friends, and fear no man. 

He left a wife and two sons. The eldest, 
Henry Ferguson, is a lawyer at Louisa, having 
been educated at the University of Virginia. He 
is a talented young man. He married an educated 
and lovely lady of his town — Miss Burns, a daughter 
of R. T. Burns, Esq. The youngest son, Lynn 
Boyd Ferguson, is the editor and publisher of the 
Louisa News, a sprightly Democratic paper. He 
has for a partner a young Mr. Conly, son of Asa Conly, 
a scion, on his mother's side, of the house of Leslie. 



134 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

The artist has brought out every lineament in 
the features of Judge Ferguson. 



THE GARRED FAMILY. 

Davib Garred and Jennie Graham, his wife, 
moved from Monroe County, Virginia, stopping 
awhile in Kanawha, and settled at the Falls of Tug, 
about 1820. James, their oldest son, married Polly 
Wilson. Ulysses married Lydia Stafford, daughter 
of John Stafford, the wealthy farmer and noted 
Methodi'st of Whitehouse Shoals. 

Hon. Ulysses Garred has, since coming to man- 
hood, been ranked as one of the foremost citizens of 
his section. He is a model farmer and trader, and 
as a hotel-keeper " Garred's Stone House " has for 
a quarter of a century maintained a reputation second 
to no other hostelry in the valley. He has been a 
member of the Legislature, and has filled many other 
offices of note in his county, always with satisfaction 
to the people. His wife died a few years ago, greatly 
regretted by all who knew her ; and to her family 
the loss was irreparable. He has but one son, who 
married a daughter of Captain A. P. Borders. The 
son is a farmer, merchant, postmaster, and hotel- 
keeper at Kichardson. 

David, the youngest son, married Nancy, daugh- 
ter of Owen Dyer. This pair have reared a large 
family. One son is a prominent physician in West 
Virginia. One is the clerk of the Circuit Court of 



THE GARBED FAMIL Y. 1 35 

Lawrence County. Another is the owner and land- 
lord of the Chatterawha Hotel at Louisa. David 
has a fine farm on the Sandy, adjoining his brother 
Ulysses, nine miles above Louisa. Flora married 
Garred See, a cousin, before the family moved to 
the Sandy Valley, and moved to Indiana, but soon 
came to Kentucky. Polly married Richard Cham- 
bers. He was a man of good reading and sprightly 
mind. William Vinson married a daughter of his, 
and it has been said that, while the Vinsons are a 
smart people, much of the dash of William Vinson's 
children came from the Chambers side. Mr. Cham- 
bers was a noted Whig politician. Elizabeth married 
Ira W. Golf, who became the father of Felix and 
Captain John B. Goif, of Big Creek, Pike County, 
Kentucky. Felix Golf lives in quiet at Louisa, 
having a farm in Mississippi, where he once resided. 
He is a very intelligent man, and a great student. 
He is an ardent Democrat, and takes great interest 
in State aifairs. 

JOHN B. GOFF. 

John B. Goff lived a few years in Mississippi, 
but returned to Sandy in 1858, and has been ever 
since a citizen of Big Creek. We give his picture, 
first alone, and then in connection with his two 
handsome daughters. When the Civil War broke 
out, he, being an ardent Southern man in feeling, 
raised a company of men for the Southern army. 
The company was known as the " Pine-knot " 



136 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



company, from the fact that the captain proposed to 
arm his men with pine-knots to drive back the 
Northern soldiery who might come down to invade 
Southern soil. This step was taken before the cap- 
tain had obtained a census of the Northern men ; 
but when the " Yanks '^ began pouring in like 
Egyptian locusts, Captain Goff, who never was a 

one-idea man, 
placed the best of 
arms in the hands 
of his brave 
mountain eers, 
and used the 
"knots'' for 
kindling camp- 
fires. No braver 
man fought on 
the Southern 
side than John 
B.Goif. He was 
taken prisoner 
one year after entering the service, and sent to 
Camp Chase and to Johnson's Island. He was ex- 
changed, and reached home on the 17th of March, 
1865. 

The father of the captain and of Felix W. Goff 
removed to Mississippi before the boys were grown, 
where he died. The mother died in Louisa, Ken- 
tucky. 

John B. Goif married Mary E. Small, at Louisa, 




JOHN B. GOFF, 



JOHN B. GOFF, 



137 



in 1858. He has seven children, all daughters but 
one. The son is at home with the family. Sarah 
married David Young. Dixie married Floyd W. 
Murphy, a bright business young man in the neigh- 
borhood. 

Captain Goif has been, and is still, engaged in 
merchandising, farming, and general trading. He 
has a competency, and, like all the Golfs, is liberal 
in Christian 
deeds. No one 
is turned away 
from his castle 
who is in need, 
without being 
supplied by his 
liberal hand. 

Jane Garred 
married Harve 
Ratliif, and moved to Missouri. Hannah married 
Charles Wilson. Sarah Ann married Burgess Fitz- 
patrick, of Patrick's Gap. Minerva married C. C. 
Kise, who is referred to in another place. Maggie 
died, on arriving at womanhood, unmarried. An- 
other daughter married William Ratliff, the father 
of Mrs. William Bartram. 

It will be seen that David Garred and Jennie 
Graham, his wife, raised thirteen children, three 
sons and ten daughters, all of whom and their 
descendants, now alive, are living in the valley, 

12 




JOHN B. GOFF AND DAUGHTERS. 



138 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

except Harold Ratliff and wife, who went to Mis- 
souri, where they did well. 

The elder Garreds were ardent Whigs in politics, 
and during the Civil War took sides with the Union. 
Since the war, they and most of their descendants 
have allied themselves with the Democratic party. 
In religion most of them are Southern Methodists, 
while some are Baptists and of other faiths. It is 
estimated that over three hundred voters on Sandy 
have Garred blood in their veins. 

The ancestors of the Garreds were Presbyterians 
before coming to Sandy. David Garred and wife 
are buried on the high bluff overlooking the farm 
of their son, Ulysses. 



REV. R. D. CALLIHAN. 

By the request of my friend. Dr. Ely, I will 
make a brief statement relative to my entrance into 
the Valley of the Big Sandy, in which I spent 
many happy years. In December, 1827, I visited 
the home of the Hon. F. Moore, Avho lived on the 
Virginia side of the said river, about one mile be- 
low its forks, or the town of Louisa, the county 
seat of Lawrence. County, Ky. The object of my 
visit was in search of remunerative labor. I found 
employment in this family, and during my stay 
there I found a pleasant home. Mrs. Moore proved 
to me next to my own dear mother, kind, amiable, 
pious, and devoted. Perhaps I ought, in vindica- 



REV. R. D. CALLIHAN. 139 

tion of my history in after life, to say that the em- 
ployment in which I engaged at Mr. Moore's was 
the distillation of whisky, a business not then re- 
garded as disreputable. For this I was paid so 
much per gallon. In this labor I remained for 
about three months, and this closed not only my 
labor as a distiller, but my employer also abandoned 
the business. 

I refer to this period of my life because it has 
been circulated by some of the citizens of this date 
that by selling whisky and other intoxicants I made 
large amounts of money. This report is untrue. 
I never drank nor sold any vinous or malt liquor, 
but for at least sixty-five years have been opposed 
to the use of every thing that would cause intox- 
ication. 

My fidelity to the interest of my employer 
proved to be a prelude to my future avocation in 
life. I had acquired his confidence to that extent 
that he introduced me to the only commercial house 
of any note in the town of Louisa, or, indeed, in 
the valley. This I regarded as an advance into a 
higher state, not only of social, but business life, 
and with it greater obligations were placed in my 
hands. The business of this house was conducted 
under the style of A. Beirne & Co. Mr. Beirne, 
who lived in the county of Monroe, and State of 
Virginia, furnished the capital, and three young 
men of Louisa were regarded as the active business 
partners, one of whom moved to Pikeville, the 



140 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 

county seat of Pike County, Ky., with an assort- 
ment of mixed merchandise ; and it would have 
been a valuable branch to the main store at Louisa 
if it had been conducted prudently. These men, 
unfortunately, soon formed habits of dissipation and 
kindred vices, rendering it necessary to close up 
the business of the firm ; and, in doing this, new* 
and greater responsibilities were acquired by me, 
in becoming the agent, by the mutual consent of 
the partners, to close up the business ; and conse- 
quently the firm placed notes and accounts in my 
hands for collection, amounting to about ^17,000. 
To do this work required at least two years, as I 
had to travel on horseback over parts of six counties 
in Kentucky and three in Virginia. After having 
accomplished this, there being a vacancy of a clerk- 
ship in the Pike County Circuit Court, caused by the 
death of Mr. Honaker, my friends, uniting with the 
gentlemen of the bar, recommended me to the Hon. 
Silas W. Robbins, the presiding judge, who, under 
the old Constitution, appointed his own clerk, and 
he had the kindness to appoint me as the successor 
of Mr. Honaker to the office of Circuit Court clerk 
of said county of Pike. This office I held for 
twelve years. I then resigned, and the Hon. Kenas 
Farrow, who succeeded Robbins, appointed Martin 
Mims as my successor. 

My desire then was to engage in merchandising 
and settle in Pikeville, which I did in April, 1832. 
But my means were scanty. I had formed the 



REV. R. D. CALLIHAN. 141 

acquaintance of Harry B. Mayo, who lived in Pres- 
tonburg, Floyd County, Ky., a gentleman of high 
and influential standing, with money. Hearing of 
my wish, he solicited a partnership, which I gladly 
accepted, and this connection was both harmonious 
and profitable. Our first purchase was made in 
Maysville, Ky., April, 1832. We got all safely to 
our home, and opened our goods. We had a trade 
beyond our expectation. Our collection of produce, 
etc., was very satisfactory, so much so that we were 
induced to seek a different city to make our pur- 
chase for the Spring of 1834. My benefactor. 
Colonel Beirne, visited Pikeville and Louisa, and 
to him we made known our desire. He approved 
of it, and kindly and generously gave us an open 
letter of introduction to the merchants of the city 
of Philadelphia, on which I could have purchased 
an unlimited amount of merchandise. But a prom- 
inent trait of my life has been that of cautiousness, 
and hence the purchase was circumscribed to about 
$3,000. 

The business of this year was more gratifying 
than the preceding ; and I must say that our cus- 
tomers showed to us a noble trait of character, 
which, in all my business life, I have not known 
excelled — a native promptness in the payment of 
debts. 

I remained in the business of selling goods in 
that place until the Spring of 1844. During these 
years I was the humble instrument of redeeming 



142 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

two young men from lives of dissipation, and I had 
the pleasure of seeing them become sober, discreet 
business men — men of wealth, ornaments in so- 
ciety, and useful members of the Church of God. 
In the Spring of 1844 I returned with my 
family to Louisa, the starting-place of my busi- 
ness life. 

I could extend this sketch of my humble life ; 
but I forbear. The more interesting part would be 
that of my conversion to the religion of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, which occurred on the 29th of August, 
1829, at a camp-meeting, held on what was then 
called Farmer's Camp-ground, about eight miles 
south of Ashland, now Boyd County, Ky. But I 
decline this at present, with this significant truth, 
that I OAve all I am worth to the eifects of our holy 
Christianity, and the fostering care of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, with my united industry, econ- 
omy, and cautiousness in life. 



THE HAGER FAMILY, 

Of the Sandy Valley, like the Auxier and Moore 
families, is of the German race. John Hager and 
Mary Schaefer, his wife, spoke the German language, 
and used the German Bible to find out God's ways 
to man. We first hear of them in Amherst County, 
Va., where their sons, Daniel, George, and John 
were born, as well as their daughter, who be- 
came the w ife of James Layne, the father of Judge 



THE HAGER FAMILY. 



143 



Lindsay Layne. They moved to Floyd County 
and settled on the Sandy, near the mouth of John's 
Creek, when their son Daniel was but a few years 
old. Their other sons grew up to be useful 
citizens. 

George, the eldest, living to a great age, died 
several years ago in West Virginia. He was the 
father of Mrs. Van Horn, recently deceased. He 
was a very religious 
man, and a great 
Methodist. Another 
son was also num- 
bered among the lead- 
ing people of the 
valley. But Daniel, 
by his energy and 
superior mental en- 
dowments always 
ranked as the leader 
of the house of Hager. 
When he c a m e to 
manhood, in 1820 or 1821, he married Miss Violet 
Ventrees Porter, daughter of John Porter, of Rus- 
sell County, Virginia. His wife was a lady of great 
kindness of heart, and strength of character. 

Six sons and six daughters were born to them, 
all of whom are still living but John J., Henry G., 
and Ventrees. The sons and daughters, without an 
exception, married into families of the highest re- 
spectability ; and the descendants of Daniel Hagei', 




GEN'L DANIEL HAGER. 

(Taken in 1846.) 



144 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

to the third generation, maintain the reputation of 
their ancestors for intellectual vigor and great 
energy. 

Captain Elijah Patrick, of Magoffin, Captain 
Frank Preston, Dr. Turner, William Stafford, of 
Johnson, and Dr. Martin, of Ashland, arc all sons- 
in-law of General Daniel Hager and wife — all fore- 
most men in their communities. 

Ventrees was the wife of E. W. Brown, of Mor- 
gan. She died some years ago. The sons all grew 
to manhood, and entered the busy race of life ; and 
each one of them, to this day, has never, by any 
wrong act, stained the fair escutcheon of the house 
of Hager. They all developed into wise business 
men and sterling citizens. John J. went South 
with the Confederate army, and lost his life. Cap- 
tain Henry G. was merchant and steamboat-owner, 
and died in the prime of his busy life. He left 
three sons and a daughter, who reflect the image of 
his person and strength of his mind. The daughter 
is the wife of Captain D. M. Atkinson, a prominent 
citizen of Salyersville. The second son, John F. 
Hager, is one of the most prominent lawyers of 
East Kentucky. He lives in Ashland, and is recog- 
nized as one of the leading men there. Milton, 
the younger brother, is a fine business man at Sal- 
yersville, and is a man of intellectual force. 

General Hager became comparatively wealthy, 
and did nobly by his children, not so much in a 
pecuniary sense as in raising them to think and act 



THE HAGER FAMILY. 14b 

for themselves, and to depend on their own efforts 
to succeed in life. He was for many years a briga- 
dier-general in the militia, was the first sheriff of 
Johnson County, and served in the Legislature of 
the State, and in many other places of trust and 
honor, with great intelligence and integrity. 

When the war came upon the country in 1861, 
General Hager, having all his life been a Jefferson 
Democrat, logically took sides with the States in 
rebellion against the General Government, and ex- 
pressed his sympathies that way. But when his 
own State refused to go with the South, he quietly 
settled down in charity to all, and awaited the re- 
sult. His sons, save the oldest, were either Union 
men or had the good sense to follow the example 
first set by their State, and remained neutral. 

Daniel, the youngest son, served a term in the 
Union army. Dr. Martin acted as surgeon in the 
same cause. Captain Reuben Patrick, another son- 
in-law, was active as an officer in the war. Captain 
Henry G. did service, also, as a carrier of supplies 
during the great struggle. 

General Hager has always been a decided Demo- 
crat, and most of his sons follow in his footsteps, 
though Daniel, the youngest, is a Republican. Four 
of his sons-in-law are Republicans — Captain Patrick, 
Dr. Martin, Dr. Turner, and E. W. Brown. Will- 
iam Stafford and Captain Preston are Democrats ; 
but the family never let politics destroy personal 
friendships. 



146 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

The Hagers are Methodists in religion, and 
favor all reforms calculated to raise the race to a 
higher plane of happiness. They are all sober, tem- 
perate people. The general and his male descend- 
ants are great Masons. 

When General Hager was in middle life he was 
fond of fine horses, as were also two friends of his, 
Dr. Hereford and Samuel Porter; and the trio 
often engaged in testing the bottom of their fast 
horses. Sometimes hundreds of people would be in 
attendance at these places of amusement ; and those 
three determined men kept down every thing like 
disorder, which speaks well for them and for the 
people who attended the early-time races. 

General Hager grows quite feeble, being now 
(1887) in the eighty-sixth year of his age ; but 
he is happy in the consciousness of having faithfully 
discharged his duty through his long life. Death 
has no terrors for him. His noble wife died in 1876. 

His portrait will call to mind for many years 
one of the noble characters, who, with other pioneers, 
has done so much to develop the Sandy Valley, 
and make it the abode of wealth and culture. 



L. D. WALTON 



Came to Catlettsburg about the time of the arrival 
of E. C. Thornton ; but, unlike the latter, who was 
popular with every body, Walton was so churlish 
that he was almost hated by every body. And yet 



L. D. WALTON. 147 

lie was a useful man. In buying lots and placing 
cheap houses on them, he did much to increase the 
material wealth of the town. He, like Thornton, 
came from New York State, first going to the upper 
part of the Sandy Valley to erect a mill for a New 
York company. 

His wife dying, he married for his second wife 
a lady of great respectability, a daughter of one of 
the most prominent families of that entire section. 
They moved to Catlettsburg soon after it was made 
a town. Mr. Walton owned or leased the saw-mill 
which stood below the entrance to the wood on the 
bank of the Ohio, on the road to Ceredo. He 
floated the lumber down with which he built so 
many houses, and sold enough to maintain his family, 
besides paying for the hardware which was used in 
putting up the buildings. He rented out the 
buildings as he finished them, until he found a cash 
purchaser, when he let them go, even sometimes at 
a low price. For two years or more before he left 
the town he was engaged in store-keeping in the 
house on South Front Street, which afterwards be- 
came the beginning of the Sherman House, estab- 
lished by Captain Job Looman, who married the 
widow of John Layne. 

In 1860 Walton gathered up his personal effects, 

•having already disposed of all of his real estate, and 

moved to Arkansas or St. Louis. No one regretted 

his departure ; but every one was sorry to see his 

amiable wife leave the town. She was a noble 



148 THE BIO SAND Y VA LLE Y. 

Christian lady, connected with many of the best 
people of the valley, and admired for her many 
amiable qualities of mind and heart. The two little 
boys, the children of Walton's first wife, left a good 
name behind. The second Mrs. Walton had no 
children. 

Not long after the family arrived at their Western 
home news came back that Mrs. Walton was dead ; 
and, after the sad intelligence was corroborated, no 
one since has cared enough of Walton to inquire 
after his whereabouts. It was thought by many at 
the time that he took away with him a large sum of 
money, as he worked hard, traded close, and hoarded 
what money he took in. He was a singular man. 



THE WILLIAMSONS, 

Of the Sandy Valley, are of Welsh descent. The 
first ancestors came to America long before the 
Revolution. They were patriots, and fought for 
independence. The family, on coming to America, 
settled in Pennsylvania, but after the Revolutionary 
War moved South into Maryland and Virginia. 
The immediate ancestors of the Sandy branch settled 
in Russell County, Va., from whence Benjamin 
Williamson, the grandfather of Wallace J. William- 
son and Mrs. Marr, nee Williamson, came in 1795, 
and settled on the Tug River, near the mouth of 
Pond. John Williamson, about the same time, 
settled in the John's Creek country. John was the 



THE WILLIAMSONS. 



149 



ancestor of Hibbard Williamson, so well and favor- 
ably known in Pikeville. 

Another one of the family pitched his tent on 
Rock Castle, now in Martin County. The William- 
sons, like most of the early settlers, were a brave, 
determined set of people, impressing their strong 
individuality upon all with whom they came in 
contact. They practiced virtue and morality, and 
were early patrons 
of religion in their 
neighborhoods. 

While all of the 
old stock of Will- 
iamsons were force- 
ful people, Ben- 
jamin, the son of 
the first Benjamin 
that came to Tug 
River, was the 
leader. He, like 
his father before 
him, was a woods- 
man and hunter, 
and this circum- benjamin Williamson. 

stance no doubt caused him to purchase the bound- 
less tract of land which he owned. His portrait 
accompanies this sketch. He grew rich in lands 
and herds of cattle, and before he died provided 
amply for all of his children. Two of these had 
died before him. He left Floyd, Wallace J., Ben- 




150 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

jamin, three sons, and one daughter, Mrs. Thomas 
Marr, of Catlettsburg. His wife was a Deskins, of 
a prominent Sandy family. He died in about 1880, 
at an advanced age, loved by his children and 
grandchildren — for he was extremely fatherly to 
them all — and respected as an upright man by the 
entire community in which he had so long been a 
leader of the people. 

His sons are well-to-do in material wealth. W. 
J. Williamson is one of the great business men of 
Catlettsburg. Mrs. Marr, the only daughter, is a 
model wife and mother, and highly respected for 
her lady-like bearing. The other branches of the 
house of Williamson have spread, until the family 
tree is one of the largest in the valley, keeping fair 
the bright escutcheon as it was handed down to the 
younger generation by the early ancestors of the 
house. 

SAMUEL T. WALKER* 

Was among the early arrivals in the John's Creek 
Valley in an early day. He was a great hunter, 
and, like many of the old-time bear-hunters, was a 
noted gunsmith and blacksmith. He was one of 
the early Methodists in the valley. His descendants 
are among the most respectable in the country. A 
grandson is a merchant of the valley at this time. 



HON. ROBERT 31. WEDBINGTON. 151 

HON. ROBERT M. WEDDINGTON. 

Heney and his brother, Jacob Weddington, the 
founders of the house on Sandy, came from Vir- 
ginia when mere boys, in 1790. The Weddingtons 
were original North Carolina people. The two 
plucky boys went to work with the determination 
to succeed. They stopped in what is now Pike 
County. They had but little education; but, what 
was better, they had good native sense and intellect. 
Henry, the grandfather of Robert M., soon became 
a merchant, while Jacob farmed and traded in live 
stock. They both succeeded well in business. 

In 1800 Henry married Elizabeth Garrell. 
From the union two children were born — James 
and William. The latter was Judge Weddington, 
the father of Robert M. Weddington, whose name 
heads this sketch. Henry died in 1836, and was 
buried on Shelby, where the Weddingtons first 
settled. His wife survived until 1860, living with 
her son, the judge, seven miles below Pikeville, 
where she was buried. James, Henry^s other son, 
married Katie Mead, who was the daughter of a 
prominent old settler. They had born to them 
twelve children, eight boys and four girls. 

In about 1866 James Weddington, then quite 
an old man, left his home, and started west. He 
has never been heard of since. It is supposed that 
he was killed or met with some mishap. His widow 



152 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

still lives in Pike County, with her sons, Jack and 
Marion, with an -unmarried daughter in charge. 

James's children married and settled mostly in 
the Sandy Valley, and are doing well. The brilliant 
South G. Preston, of Paintsville, married a grand- 
daughter of James Weddington. What is remark- 
able, William Weddington, like his brother James, 
was also the father of twelve children — five sons 
and seven daughters. His wife was a daughter of 
Rhoads Mead. The children all married. The 
eldest son, Martin, married a Miss Tipton, and lives 
in Arkansas. Rhoads, another son, lives in Texas. 
His daughter is the wife of John Owens, great- 
grandson of '^ Dad '' Owens, who laid off Pikeville 
in 1821. The son whose name heads this article 
married a daughter of Hugh Harkins, the grand- 
father of Walter S. Harkins. Harry, another son, 
is a business man in Pike County, Ky. Another 
son, C. C, lives in Arkansas. 

The eldest daughter, Lucinda, married Dr. S. M. 
Ferguson, the large capitalist and land-owner of 
Pike and Floyd Counties. J. Lee Ferguson, of 
Pike, is their son. Elizabeth is the wife of John 
L. Hatcher, of Pike. Catherine married James A. 
Porter, of Johnson County. Mr. Porter has rep- 
resented his county in the Legislature. He is a 
bright man, a son of Samuel Porter, of Miller's Creek. 
Nannie married A. J. Scott, of Pike County. Amelia 
is the wife of Washington Cloud, of Pierce City, Mo. 
He is the editor of the Pierce City Democrat 



HON. ROBERT M. WEDDINGTON. 



153 



Judge William Weddington died in 1878. His 
widow still lives. Jacob Weddington, the grand- 
uncle of Robert M., was married three times, and 
left a large family of sons and daughters, who have 
married into the prominent families of the valley, 
and are amongst the prominent people. One of Jacob 
Weddington's daughters married John Hargiss, 
the grandfather of Thomas Hargiss, the chief justice 
of the Court of 
Appeals. Captains 
William and 
Harry Ford, and 
their brother 
Jackson, were half- 
brothers of Will- 
iam and James 
Weddington. Af- 
ter the death of- 
the father, she 
married a Ford, 
by whom she had 
the three bright 
sons named. Will- 
iam and Harry were both captains in the 39th 
Kentucky, Union army. 

Captain William Ford died while in service at 
Lexington, Ky. After serving faithfully for two 
years, Harry was compelled to resign on account 
of poor health, returned to Pike, and became a 
large trader and merchant. He died- in 1880, 




ROBERT M. WEDDINGTON. 



154 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

leaving a widow and several children. Three of his 
sons, Moses Ford, S. King Ford, and John Ford, 
are popular traveling salesmen for first-class whole- 
sale houses. A daughter of Captain Ford married 
J. Crittenden Cecil. After his death she became 
the wife of Mr. Phergo, a journalist. 

The Weddington-Ford family is one of the 
strong houses of the valley ; but want of space for- 
bids much that is historic. 

DR. S. M. FERGUSON, 

A SON-IN-LAW of Judge Wm. Weddington, and 
brother-in-law of R. M. Weddington, is one of the 
prominent physicians in the Sandy Valley. He is 
a man of wealth, and great energy. He was lieu- 
tenant-colonel in the 39th Kentucky Infantry, 
United States army. He came from Virginia 
to Sandy in about 1843. He is a strong Repub- 
lican in politics. Nearly all of the Weddingtons 
are Democrats, though some are ardent Republicans. 
In religion they are mostly Methodists. A few of 
the family, however, are Baptists. R. M. Wedding- 
ton has been a bright newspaper man, having, with 
Mr. Leslie, founded the Prestonburg Banner, a 
Democratic paper of ability. He ranks among the 
ablest lawyers of the valley. The influential family 
of the Morgan and Elliott County Weddingtons are 
descendants of the Sandy house of Weddingtons. 



THE WARDS. 155 

THE WARDS. 

This family came to the valley soon after the 
first settlement on the Sandy. James Ward was 
the pioneer of the family. He settled on Rock- 
castle Creek. The family has increased in numbers 
until but few families in the valley outrank it in 
multitude. They have all along been noted for 
their quiet dispositions, and for their good citizen- 
ship. The old stock were noted hunters, having 
been trained in Indian warfare. 

The Ward family has sent out a number of 
preachers and professional men. The mother of 
Rev. Z. Meek was a Ward, and a noble woman. 
Dr. Joseph Ward, of Martin County, is a descend- 
ant of Solomon Ward. William Jefferson Ward is 
one of the solid men of business in Johnson County. 
In religion they are generally of the Baptist per- 
suasion ; in politics, mostly Democratic. 

The Ward family are noted for naming their 
children after their ancestors. Of Jim Wards there 
have been quite a host ; and in order to designate 
them they were nicknamed. Hence w^e had Big 
Foot, Nine Toes, White Head, Bit Nose, Jimper, 
Little Jim, Jim's Jim, Hawkum, etc. To call a 
man Jim Ward, no one would know which Jim 
was meant. 



156 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

JOHN I. WILLIAMSON 

Came from Maine long before the Civil War. On 
his way out, on stopping at Pittsburg, his trunks 
were broken open, and he was robbed of all his 
money, a considerable sum. He had heard of the 
great openings in the Sandy Valley, and to Catletts- 
burg he and his young wife came. Without means, 
he opened a small merchant tailoring establishment, 
and went cheerfully to work. In ten years he was 
one of the principal merchants in the town. His 
wife died in about 1881, leaving him one son, 
Adelbert, who is his father's helper in the large 
business. 

Mr. Williamson is a popular man. He is a 
Mason, an Odd Fellow, and a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a man of great 
benevolence, for his means. 



THE VINSON FAMILY. 

In 1800 Benjamin Sperry, Peter Loar, and 
William Artrip, three brothers-in-law, came from 
the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, and settled on 
the Sandy River, near where Cassville and Louisa 
are now located. On their way out, James Vinson, 
a young man of sprightly mien and .good address, 
from South Carolina, joined the party, and pro- 
ceeded with them to their destination. 

It was not long after the families composing 



THE VINSON FAMILY. 157 

the little colony had settled down in their primi- 
tive homes when young Vinson, who had wooed 
and was promised the hand of a fair daughter of 
Mr. Sperry, asked permission of the parents of his 
betrothed to have the rite of matrimony solemnized. 
The appeal was granted, and the young couple were 
married. From this alliance has sprung the house 
of Vinson in the Sandy Valley — a family destined 
to fill a large scope in the history of this section. 

Two daughters and six sons composed the fam- 
ily of the second generation. One of the daughters 
was the last wife of Hon. William Ratliff, of Wayne 
County, West Va. 

Captain William Vinson, the oldest son, at- 
tained to a popularity but seldom found in any 
man. He was an extensive farmer and saw-log 
dealer, and filled many positions of trust. When 
the Civil War came upon the country, he with 
alacrity flew to the standard of his country, and 
gave valuable assistance in filling the ranks of the 
14th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, and while not 
able to do personal service in the field, he was a 
good loyal Union man until the war closed. He 
had been an ardent Whig before the war, and after- 
wards generally voted the Republican ticket. In 
the latter part of his life he united with the Chris- 
tian Church, and died within its pale. 

William Vinson was brave, noble, and just. 
He, like the rest of the Vinsons, was quick to re- 
sent an insult, but as ready to do a kind act or 



158 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



charitable deed to any who might stand in need. 
He died in 1883, at his home in Lawrence County, 
Kentucky, about sixty -four years of age. 

Samuel S. Vinson, another brother, while not 
the oldest of the living brothers, has, by his great 
ability and indomitable energy, placed himself at 
the front of the family. He now resides on his 
large farm, two miles above Ceredo, Wayne County, 

West Va. He is 
the senior mem- 
ber of the large 
timber-t r a d i n g 
firm of Vinson, 
Goble & Prich- 
ard, located at 
Catlettsburg. 
Mainly through 
Mr. Vinson the 
buying, measur- 
ing, and transfer 
of the timber to 
market was re- 
duced to scien- 
tific book-keeping in the carrying on of the busi- 
ness. Mr. Vinson has, besides his farming and 
timber trade, other financial ventures under his 
watchful eye. A man of such ability as he pos- 
'Sesses will, by force of circumstances, come to the 
front in public affairs ; and while he has never 
aspired to official position for himself, he has made 




S. S. VINSON. 



THE ULEN FAMILY. 159 

his influence felt in placing those in office whom 
he chose to see there. He has the ability to fill 
with credit any office in the gift of the people, and 
his friends expect to place him in some high of- 
ficial trust at no distant day. 

The other brothers are all prominent men of 
business, and occupy a good place in social life. 
They live on the Tug River, some in West Vir- 
ginia, and others in Kentucky. They are all Dem- 
ocrats in politics, and adhere to the Christian 
Church in religious belief. 

Among the children of the third generation are 
to be counted a number of prominent men. Rich- 
ard F., son of William Vinson, is a prominent 
business man and lawyer of Louisa, who married 
the only daughter of Dr. P. S. Randle and Malinda 
May, his wife. Z. C. Vinson, another son, is a 
prominent business man of Catlettsburg. The entire 
family of William Vinson are found among the lead- 
ing people of the valley. Samuel S. Vinson has a 
son who graduated at a leading college, and is a 
practicing lawyer. 

The Vinson family represent a large landed es- 
tate in the Sandy Valley. 



THE ULEN FAMILY 

Is ANOTHER of the old houses which was here be- 
fore the Catletts had gained a foothold at the 
Mouth. The grandfather of Ulba and Charles S. 



160 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

was a daring frontiersman, whose fearless deeds, 
enacted at the mouth of the Kanawha in Indian 
warfare, are recorded in several books of Western 
adventure. Dr. Ulen, the father, was among the 
old settlers of the East Fork region, from whence 
came his two sons, in the time of the Catletts, to 
the Mouth. 

Elba, the older of the two, was sheriff of 
Greenup County in an early day, and did the busi- 
ness of that office in the Sandy region of the county 
more than a generation ago. He has lived con- 
tinuously in Catlettsburg since it was a town, and 
has always ranked as one of Catlettsburg' s useful 
and prosperous citizens. He had charge of the 
England Hill property from the time it was turned 
over to be managed by a local agent until the 
English owners sold it in 1870. He owns and 
runs a nice little farm three miles out on the pike. 
He has a very comfortable brick dwelling. While 
Mr. and Mrs. Ulen have no children, they are 
popular with the young people of the place, and 
at their home many young folks are made welcome, 
and enjoy the good cheer of the host and hostess. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ulen are prominent and useful mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
Mr. Ulen is among Catlettsburg's oldest men, as 
well as citizens. 

Charles S. has lived at Portsmouth, but finally 
drifted back to the place of his first love. He was 
a manufacturer, but has been for some time, and is 



EZRA a THORNTON. 161 

now, a merchant. He is blest, with a family of 
bright children. A daughter, the oldest, is the 
wife of one of the ablest preachers of the Kentucky 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, although her father and mother are Presby- 
terians. All the daughters are well educated, and 
are esteemed for their many graces and virtues. 
The oldest son is a newspaper man. 



EZRA C. THORNTON, 

By his great talents as a preacher, teacher, lec- 
turer, writer, editor, mechanic, and business man in 
general, did more to develop the latent resources of 
Catlettsburg in the field of education, morals, and 
material wealth than did any other citizen living in 
the place, from the time of his arrival on the 
ground in 1851 to the day of his leaving in 1858. 
He was a New York man, who had married and 
settled in Ohio. He was a Methodist preacher, 
and joining the Western Virginia Conference of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, settled in 
Catlettsburg, and entered upon a ministerial career 
which, though short in duration, was one of the 
most brilliant in the annals of the conference. 

Most men can only do one thing well. Not so 
with E. C. Thornton, who was a genius. He was 
a thorough scholar, not only trained in the solid 
English and mathematical branches, but in Greek 
and Latin as well. He founded the Thornton 

14 



162 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Academy, the leader among high-school institutions 
in Catlettsburg. Even the building in which he 
conducted the school was the workmanship of his 
hands. His own commodious residence, where S. G. 
Kinner now lives, is a monument to his labor and 
ingenuity. But not stopping here, he erected by 
contract several houses in the town, not merely di- 
recting the workmen, but joining with them in all 
branches of mechanical labor, from digging for the 
foundation to giving the finishing touch with the 
painter's brush. 

It is not out of place to say that Captain A. C. 
Haily, Catlettsburg's noted sign-writer and house- 
painter, caught the inspiration of his noble calling 
from Mr. Thornton. 

But the grosser pursuits of manual labor failed 
to interfere in the least with the higher pursuits, 
which he was carrying forward for the intellect- 
ual and religious elevation of the people. He went 
far and near, delivering lectures on Education, Free 
Masonry (for he was an enthusiastic Mason), Tem- 
perance, and kindred subjects, great crowds listen- 
ing spell-bound to his matchless eloquence. 

Not satisfied with cultivating the fields of use- 
fulness we have already named, to him belongs also 
the honor of founding and publishing the first 
newspaper in Catlettsburg in 1854. The printing- 
office was in the building which is now the resi- 
dence of Noah Wellman. 

After seven years of constant toil and labor in 



EZRA C. THORNTON. 1(33 

the fields of intellectual, moral, and material in- 
dustry, he concluded to bid adieu to the scenes of 
his many triumphs at Catlettsburg, and seek a 
larger field, where he might give fuller scope to 
his varied talents. In 1858, leaving his family in 
Catlettsburg, he took a trip to the State of Wis- 
consin, to seek a location, intending to return, sell 
oif his property, and move his family to that young 
and vigorous commonwealth. While there, step- 
ping hastily aboard the train, he fell, and was in- 
stantly killed. The new^s of his sudden death not 
only overwhelmed his wife and children with grief, 
but made it a sad day for all. The people of the 
town, but more especially the members of his 
Church and his Masonic brethren, had felt that it 
would be sad to have him leave them in health, 
and go to a distant field of labor, but the thought 
that they never would look on his face again was 
almost beyond endurance. 

An administrator — Morris Wellman, his brother- 
in-law — was appointed to settle up his estate. The 
academy building and dwelling-house were sold to 
the late Judge Jerry Wellman, Mrs. Thornton, 
through the administrator, buying the property, 
and moving into it (now the home of Columbus 
Prichard). 

Mrs. Thornton, the widow, died in 1860, and also 
one of the children. John Wesley, the oldest son, 
married the daughter of a prominent citizen of 
Grayson, and is in business there. Bascom, the 



164 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

second son, is said to be a Southern Methodist 
preacher in Mississippi; and Ezra, the youngest, 
went to live with his uncle in Wisconsin, in 1870. 
The oldest daughter married Colonel R. M. 
Thomas. They moved to Texas in about 1873 or 
'74. He engaged in the foundry business, but 
afterwards published a newspaper at Dallas. His 
wife is now dead. Another daughter, at last ac- 
counts, was engaged in literary pursuits in Vir- 
ginia. One was afflicted, but tenderly cared for. 

The Thornton children were bright, and, like 
their illustrous father, well educated. 



BYRON OBRIAN 



Was never a dweller in the Sandy Valley; but 
some of his descendants came to the Sandy country, 
intermarrying with prominent families, which has 
interwoven his own history with theirs. He was 
of Irish descent, and moved from one of the 
Northern States to Tennessee, and became a prom- 
inent citizen there. Daniel Jones married a 
daughter of his in Tennessee. Mrs. Garrett, 
afterwards Mrs. Davenport, now of Ashland, a 
sister of Mrs. Jones, is the mother of Rev. Theo- 
dore Garrett, a prominent preacher in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, Kentucky Conference. 
Mrs. W. F. Moore, Mrs. ''Tip'' Frederick Moore, 
Jr., and Miss Hannah Obrian, a former teacher at 
Louisa, are half-sisters of the former ; James Obrian, 



BYRON OB RAIN. 165 

their brother, is a prominent citizen of Louisa. 
He married a daughter of John Van Horn, the 
prominent old citizen of the Lower Sandy Valley. 
Daniel Jones and Mr. Garrett both settled at 
Prestonburg. The former, about 1840, moved to 
Louisa with his family, where he soon after died. 
His widow, now venerable in years, and greatly re- 
spected, still lingers on the shores of time. Mrs. 
Medley, wife of Rev. J. F. Medley, one of the 
ablest and best known preachers in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, in the valley, is her 
daughter. The wife of Major D. J. Burchett, is 
also a daughter of hers. Mr. Garrett died at Preston- 
burg, and her second husband, Mr. Davenport, now 
resides in Ashland, where they have a happy home. 



THE SHORTRIDGE FAMILY. 

Colonel John Shortridge was of English 
lineage, whose ancestors came to America in an 
early day, and settled in Virginia. Colonel Short- 
ridge w^as a brave soldier and skillful officer in the 
War of Independence. He came to the Sandy 
country in about 1792, and settled on the land now 
called the John Ewing farm, three miles above 
Catlettsburg, in Boyd County, Kentucky. He was 
not only a brave man, but a brainy one as well. 

His sons George and Eli, like their father, were 
men of strong mental endowment. Eli was a lawyer 
by profession, and for a time was a district or 



166 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

associate judge. As a lawyer he was once called 
on to prosecute a man accused of murder. He la- 
bored hard to convict the accused, and .^ ucceded in 
gaining a verdict of guilty, although he had 
doubts of the prisoner's guilt. On going home he 
told his mother he never would appear as a prose- 
cutor against one charged with a capital crime again. 
" For/' said he, ^^ how dreadful it would be to hang 
an innocent man!" 

Colonel John Shortridge's daughter, Melinda, 
became the wife of William Hampton, the father 
of Dr. Henry Hampton, Jr., Wade Hampton, Levi 
J. Hampton, William Hampton, etc. John Chad- 
wick married another daughter. 

All the land located between Horse Branch, two 
miles below the mouth of the Sandy, and running 
up to Blaine, and above so as to include what is 
now Edmund M. Smith's farm, had been forfeited 
for taxes. The Shortridges formed an arrangement 
with David White to redeem the vast domain, by 
paying the taxes, and thereby becoming owners of 
the same. White went to Frankfort in 1798, and 
paid off the tax which amounted to the sum of 
$64.50. The Shortridges got by this purchase all 
the land below Campbell's Branch, while White 
took all above that stream. Each owner divided 
with his sons and sons-in-law, giving each a large 
farm. John Chadwick got the part now known as 
England Hill, running up Chadwick's Creek, which 
took its name from him. 



THE CATLETTS. 167 

The Shortrldge family impressed their mental 
and physical vigor on their descendants in a remark- 
able degree. The Hamptons got much of their 
dash and energy from the Shortridge house. They 
have all died. Most of them went to Missouri before 
they crossed the stream of death. 



THE CATLETTS 



Were Virginians. Sawny, the father of Hora- 
tio, came with his family to the " Mouth ^' early in 
the century. He brought negro slaves with him, 
and was a well-to-do man. The creek running 
through the town of Catlettsburg bears the Catlett 
name, in addition to the name of the live, busy 
mart of trade, often called the Gate City — the only 
monuments commemorating the once proud family. 
Sawny Catlett' s bones lie buried in the old Cat- 
lett burying-ground, near the barn of Colonel L. T. 
Moore. His son, Horatio, was the first prominent 
hotel-keeper at the Mouth. He was also a mer- 
chant, postmaster, farmer, ferryman, and general 
trader. A line of stages ran through the place from 
Lexington, Ky., to Charleston, Va., in early times, 
and Mr. Catlett had the honor of entertaining such 
notable personages as General Jackson, Henry Clay, 
and Felix Grundy. While the Catlett House was 
only a plain log building, the splendid menu spread 
for its guests, with the charming loveliness of the 
ladies of the household, made it a hostelry far in 



168 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

advance of its day. Several of the present matrons 
of Catlettsburg, who were young misses in the days 
of the Catletts, tell us that the Misses Catlett were 
the most charming and lovely maidens they ever 
knew. 

As the outgoes of the Catletts were greater than 
their income, they got badly in debt, and to extri- 
cate themselves they sent away one by one of their 
numerous slaves, and then followed on after them 
to the west of the Mississippi, hoping, no doubt, to 
raise enough money by the sale of the negroes to 
lift the mortgage from the Catlett estate at the 
Mouth. But, like nearly all such cases, the scheme 
failed. 

FRY AND SISTER, 

Who inherited from Wilson, the mortgagee, the 
title to the property as the mortgage had been closed, 
came upon the scene. 

Fry was a sickly, irritable man, and for some 
time would neither sell the land as a whole or lay 
it oif into town lots. But in 1849, being in sore 
need of ready cash, he laid out the town of Catletts- 
burg from Catlett's Creek to Division Street, and in 
less than two years sold the remainder to a syndicate 
consisting of John Culver (who had already bought 
and occupied the now fine homestead of Colonel 
Laban T. Moore), William Hampton, William 
Campbell, Frederick Moore, and W. T. Nichols, 
who, in 1851, laid out that part of the town which 
lies above Division Street. 



JOSEPH EWING. 169 

In 1847 Horatio Catlett returned to the Mouth. 
Hearings before he came, that the valuable prop- 
erty was about passing from his ownership, caused 
his rage to boil over on reaching the hotel, at the 
time kept by Levi J. Hampton, but formerly his 
own, and he died so suddenly that an autopsy was 
deemed necessary. Dr. James, a physician of the 
hamlet, found, on examination, that the sudden sev- 
ering of the wind-pipe had instantaneously stopped 
his breathing, caused by a long standing blood 
trouble. So before the unfortunate man could look 
around on the objects made dear to him by a long 
former residence, and renew old-time acquaintance- 
ships, he was called, without a moment^s warning, 
to that bourne from whence no traveler returns. 
His remains are interred by the side of his father and 
two of his daughters. Thomas E. Henderson, now 
of Ashland, but then a small lad, was on a visit to 
his brother-in-law, L. J. Hampton, the hotel-keeper, 
when Catlett died. The death of Horatio Catlett 
ended the Catlett dynasty at the Mouth. They 
will long be remembered as giving their name to the 
creek running through town, and to the town itself. 



JOSEPH EWING, 

The father of John C. and Colonel T. J. Ewing, 
about 1812, came to the Mouth, having inherited 
from his father-in-law all the land between Cat- 
lett's Creek and Horse Branch, running back for 

15 



170 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

a mile. He married a daughter of John Chadwick, 
a son-in-law of Colonel Shortridge. Colonel Short- 
ridge was the grandfather of Rev. William Hampton 
and brothers. 

Mr. Ewing came from Monroe County, Va., as 
the business representative of the Beirnes Bros., a 
noted wealthy firm, dealing in ginseng, furs, pelts, 
etc. The business of the great house extended to 
New Orleans and to London, England. Mr. Ewing 
sold goods on the Point in an early day, and after- 
wards moved over to Catlettsburg and sold goods 
just below the iron bridge. For a time he had 
charge of a store at Louisa. In 1853 he sold the 
remainder of his lands (not previously disposed of 
to several iron men, who went from Catlettsburg to 
Ashland in 1847, and started that thriving city). 
Mr. D. D. Geiger, the purchaser, made a handsome 
fortune by laying the bottom off into town lots, and 
disposing of them at good prices. It is the seat of 
many of the fine residences for which the Gate 
City is noted. 

Mr. Ewing, after disposing of his property, 
went three miles up the Sandy Biver, and became 
owner of the farm now owned by his eldest 
son, John C, Bansom Hatfield, Asa Bunyon, and 
John C. Bichardson. Mr. Ewing was a notable 
man in his day, being very handsome in person, 
coupled with a grace of manners showing off to 
good advantage. He gave his sons a good educa- 
tion, sending the two oldest to Marshall College to 



THE HAMPTONS, 171 

be trained, and no doubt would have sent the 
younger away to be educated had he lived. 

John C. Ewing is a prosperous and scientific 
farmer of Boyd County, while Thomas J. is a 
lawyer, giving most of his time to the pension 
agency business. 

The daughter first married John Creed Burks, 
a very popular business man, who died in 1863. 
She afterwards married Dr. Cromwell, and moved 
to Arkansas, where she died. 

John and Thomas J. are the only children 
living. 



THE HAMPTONS 



Were here in early days, and have always been re- 
garded as one of the most notable families of the 
valley. They are of English descent, some of them 
coming to the New World before the Bevolution, 
and have spread from New York and Pennsylvania 
all over the Southern and Western States. 

Henry Hampton was the ancestor of the Sandy 
Valley Hamptons. He settled in Wayne County, 
Va., about the beginning of this century. His son 
William married a daughter of Colonel Shortridge, 
who lived where John C. Ewing now lives. This 
alliance makes the Hamptons, the Chadwicks, and 
Ewings kinsfolk. 

The father of William Hampton (the latter still 
living) reared a large family of sons. Two of 
them are physicians, still on the stage of action. 



172 



THE BIO SANDY VALLEY 



One is in California, one in Texas, and an- 
other, not a doctor, is in Iowa. Rev. William 
Hampton, named above, has, from a time long 
before the laying out of Catlettsburg, been one of 
its most useful and honorable citizens. For nearly 
fifty years he has been a useful lay preacher in the 
Methodist Church. The wife of Rev.William Hamp- 
ton came of a noted 
house, a Miss 
Buchanan. The 
Buchanans, from 
whom Mrs. 
Hampton de- 
scended, are an 
ancient and hon- 
orable family of 
^ Scotland, and of 
the same lineage 
as President 
James Buchanan. 
Mrs. Hampton's 
many superior 
qualities as wife, mother, neighbor, and friend 
proved the high origin of her lineage, all crowned 
with the graces of the true Christian heroine. She 
■died in about 1874. Mr. Hampton then married 
Mrs. Salena Mason, a lady of great respectability. 
From the latter marriage no children were born ; 
but from the first, six sons and a daughter. One 
of the sons died in young manhood. George, the 




REV. WILLIAM HAMPTON. 



THE HAMPTONS. 



173 



oldest^ and Wade, the youngest, are farmers in 
Missouri. W. O. Hampton is a lawyer, but is en- 
gaged in commercial pursuits. He lives in Cat- 
lettsburg, as does his brother, C. H. Hampton, who 
is a large capitalist and trader. John W. Hampton 
practiced law Avith great success until 1882, when 
he laid aside his law business, took up the Bible, 
and w^ent to proclaiming the Gospel to a dying 
world. He has 
filled the pul23it of 
the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church,South, 
in Charleston and 
other places, with 
great acceptability, 
and is now the pop- 
ular pastor of the 
Ashland Church of 
his denomination. 
His wife is the 
daughter of Hon. 
W.C. Ireland. She 
is a lady of rare intelligence, having received her 
education at Vassar College. The daughter married 
Dr. Barnett. Both husband and wife are dead, 
leaving two bright sons in good financial cir- 
cumstances. 

Levi J. Hampton, like his brother William, 
was a remarkable man among the old pioneers at 
the Mouth. He came along about the same time. 




MKS. WILLIAM HAMPTON. 



174 TEE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

and led, as long as he lived, as busy a life as did 
AVilliam. He was a man like Miles Standisli, of won- 
derful force of character and determined will. He 
lived for a while in Brown County, Ohio, where he 
married Elizabeth Henderson, a lady of intelligence 
and great force of character, and, like her other six 
sisters, who all married men that became prominent 
in the higher active business pursuits of life, she 
was a lady who filled the relations of wife, mother, 
friend, and neighbor with a luster of undimmed 
brilliancy. 

Mr. Hampton, soon after marriage, came back 
to the Mouth of the Sandy, which was about 1845 
or ^46, and ever after made the place his home, 
being some time engaged in timbering, timber- 
dealing, general trading, and hotel-keeping. He 
was a man of ardent temperament, and when he 
made up his mind to do any thing, he did it with 
his might. While he was a strong AVhig in poli- 
tics, as most of the old settlers at the Mouth were, 
he was equally ardent in his devotion to Southern 
institutions, and on hearing of the struggle going 
on in the Territory of Kansas between John Brown, 
leading the Free State party, and Stringfellow at 
the head of the pro-slavery or Southern host, Mr. 
Hampton rushed to the scene of conflict and iden- 
tified himself with the Southern side. In the 
struggle, John Brown and his party gained some 
advantages over the side Mr. Hampton was on, and, 
seeing it Avas necessary for his personal safety, he 



THE HAMP TONS. 1 7-5 

retired from the field and hurried to his home^ be- 
in^ shortly after pnrsned by agent© of the then 
dominant party in Kansas^ who demanded his im- 
mediate rettim to Kansas to answer a charge made 
against him for some offense committed when in 
the conflict. Mr. Hampton^s friends and neighbors 
^thered about his person , and determined that he 
should not go with the posse unless they could 
show that he was a violator of the laws of the 
Territory. As they left without taking Mr. Hamp- 
ton with them, it is presumable that his offending 
was more techuical than real. His business affaire^ 
however, suffered by this episode in his life, from 
which he never fcdly recovered. But he would,. 
no doubt, had he lived a few years loncrer, have 
again come to the front in business pr»jsperity. It 
is a little epigrammatic that while conten«ling for 
Southern rights in Kansas, when the cry of seces- 
sion was raised in the South, he raised his voice 
against the cry and declared for the old flag. He 
enlisted in the 3^h Kentucky Regiment Volunteer 
Infantry in 1862, was appointed quartermaster, and, 
being in charge of some stores for the command 
stationed above on the Sandy, when near Pres- 
tonburg he was fired upon by the enemv. -and 
was killed, bravely fighting to the last. 

^Ir. Hampton was always a warm friend of 
education, and desired above all things to see his 
children and neighbors^ children have pn:>vided for 
them the means to obtain not c~ - -^ common- 



176 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

school education, but a training only to be obtained 
in the higher academies, and hence, by word and 
means, he did much to start Catlettsburg forAvard 
to the high position she attained many years ago as 
an educational center. 

Mr. Hampton left a widow, five daughters, and 
one son. The widow died a year or two after his 
untimely taking off. Of the daughters, all are hap- 
pily married to worthy men. Julia, the oldest, 
married Henry J. Witman ; Amelia, P. O. Hawes ; 
and Minnie, the youngest, married Mr. Hayden. All 
three families reside in Omaha, Nebraska, where 
Mr. Witman carries on the tin and stove business. 
Mr. P. O. Hawes practices law, and has been in Con- 
gress, and Mr. Hayden is engaged in banking. 
Mary, the third daughter, married Captain Matthew 
Scovill. They live at Shreveport, on the Red River. 
Captain Scovill is a prominent steamboat com- 
mander and owner. Millard F., the son, finished 
his education at Asbury College, now DePauw 
University, and for a while engaged in mercantile 
pursuits. Subsequently he entered the circuit 
clerk's office of Boyd County as deputy under his 
cousin, W. O. Hampton, and at the end of the 
term of the principal, Millard was elected to the 
office, which he has filled for twelve years with 
great acceptability to the court and general public. 
He is an ardent Odd Fellow, and through the me- 
dium of that benevolent order does much to alle- 
viate the wants of the sick and suffering. He is a 



THE HAMPTONS. Ill 

working member of the Presbyterian Churchy and 
is an officer in the same. He married the oldest 
daughter of Captain Washington Honshell^a lady 
of great amiability, suavity of manners and kind- 
ness of heart. 

Mr. Millard F. Hampton, like his father, is fond 
of politics, but, unlike him, he is a Democrat of 
the strictest sect, yet by no means a bigot. 

Before we bid adieu to Levi J. Hampton and 
descendants, it is not amiss to say that, in addition 
to the many other evidences of his industry and 
local patriotism, stimulating him in pushing forward 
substantial improvements in Catlettsburg, in 1850 
he built the fine brick mansion now owned and 
occupied by Robert J. Prichard as his residence. 
Mr. Crum, the brother of the now venerable Bap- 
tist preacher of that name, made the brick and laid 
the walls ; the wood- work of the same building was 
executed by Shade Casebolt, then a young man and 
carpenter, now almost venerable in age and a 
wealthy capitalist of Ashland. Mr. Casebolt per- 
formed the entire job by hand-work alone, as that 
was a little before the era of machine-work dawned 
upon the realm of labordom. Mr. Hampton sold 
the place in 1854 to the late John D. Mims, who 
occupied the same for more than a quarter of a 
century, when it fell into the hands of the present 
owner. His fourth daughter^ Lizzie, married, and 
is in the West, doing well. 



178 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

JOHN CLARK 

Was another prominent figure in Big Sandy affairs. 
He was a highly educated Scotchman, and came to 
the Sandy country previous to 1837. He was a 
great book-keeper. He was book-keeper and 
financial director of many of the most prominent 
manufacturing enterprises located at or near the 
Mouth of Sandy. He was a great Freemason. 
He had but one child, a daughter, Elizabeth, who 
married Marcus L. Kibbe. The wedding of Mr. 
Kibbe and Miss Elizabeth Clark was the most 
fashionable and high-toned that ever occurred at 
the Mouth. The ceremony came off at the Catlett 
House, the " Alger '' of that day, where the Clark 
family had rooms. The beautiful bride was at- 
tended by Miss Catlett, a lovely daughter of the 
host, while the dashing groom had for his '^ best 
man '^ the celebrated and able lawyer, Rochester 
Beaty. Rev. Conditt, father of the able Presby- 
terian minister now at Ashland, officiated on the 
occasion. 

Mrs. Clark and Mr. Clark have been dead nearly 
a generation. The beautiful bride of fifty years 
ago — for the wedding took place in December, 
1837 — has for many years rested in the tomb ; but 
the children, the fruit of the marriage, live to bless 
the memory of their grandparents and mother, and 
to cheer their father, who still lives, as hale and 
rugged as a man of fifty. 



THE MURPHY FAMILY. 179 

A daughter, Miss Emma Kibbe, and her sister 
Mary, are teachers in a noted female college, 
while another is a popular teacher in the Catletts- 
burg graded school. The other daughter is the 
wife of R. B. Rigg, a nephew of William Biggs, 
the youth who in 1818 dipped the gourd of water 
from the Sandy River to wash the dough from the 
hands of Mrs. Moore, while transporting passengers 
up the noted stream. 

L. L. Kibbe is the present sheriif of Boyd 
County ; his brother is a saddler. Both are sons of 
M. L. Kibbe and Elizabeth Clark. 



THE MURPHY FAMILY 

Came from Pennsylvania to the Big Sandy in 1837, 
and settled on a farm two miles from the Mouth. 
M]^ Murphy was a tailor, and carried on the busi- 
ness quite largely for many years. The whole 
family, consisting of husband, wife, and four daugh- 
ters, were noted for their great intelligence and 
pleasant manners. 

Mr. Murphy died in about 1849. The wife, 
who was one of the most amiable and strong- 
minded ladies ever living in the community, died 
about 1875. The married daughters, as well as 
most of their children, have passed away. 

For many years previous to, and after the Civil 
War, the Misses Murphy, Anna and Julia, were the 



180 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

fashionable mantua-makers of Catlettsburg. They 
made up with artistic skill the trousseau for the blush- 
ing brides of that day. They had a monopoly in 
the business. Not only this, but a wedding in 
Catlettsburg among the better class was considered 
incomplete unless the Misses Murphy graced the 
festive occasion. At funerals their presence was 
always demanded to perform the solemn duties of 
preparing the robes for the dead, and suitable 
mourning apparel for the living. Their sympathy 
went out to all the distressed, both rich and 
poor. 

Miss Anna has long since passed away, and 
Miss Julia alone, of all the family, is left. She is 
in comfortable circumstances, and spends much of 
her time visiting her friends. She has legions of 
them. She is as blithe as a girl of sixteen. She 
has gathered up the dust of all of her family who 
have passed away, and had it placed in a lot in the 
new cemetery, decorating the graves with flowers 
and shrubs. No one ever left the door of the 
Murphys without feeling that they were Christians ; 
not that they professed so much, but because they 
acted as Christ told the peoj^le to act. 



JAMES McCOY 



Came to Catlettsburg in 1847, and was a wagon- 
maker. He was a good citizen. His family are 
connected with many of the leading people of this 



THOMAS CLINEFELTER. 181 

section. He died in 1881, leaving a widow and 
several daughters. Mrs. F. R. French is a daughter 
of his. 

JAMES AND JOHN FALKNER 

Came to the Mouth from Virginia about 1847: 
They carried on the blacksmith business in a shop 
on the ground where the opera-house now stands. 
James married a Miss Katliif, of Pike. He died 
fifteen years ago. John is still alive, and as active 
as ever, although he served in the Mexican ^\W. 
He is a warm-hearted, generous man. 



THOMAS CLINEFELTER 

Was an early settler. He came from Hanging 
Rock. He was a builder. He died in about 1857, 
leaving a widow, with three children. One of the 
children died in childhood. The mother has 
proven herself to be a lady of great courage and 
perseverance. She educated her two daughters in 
the best schools, and prepared them to hold their 
own in the circles of the best society. The elder 
daughter is the wife of Captain Wallace J. Will- 
iamson, the rich trader and banker. The younger 
is the wife of James W. Damron, a prominent Front 
Street merchant. It is an open secret that Mrs. 
Clinefelter has a handsome balance in her favor at 
the bank, all of which she made by her own in- 
dustry in making fine coats and vests. 



182 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

PROMINENT PHYSICIANS. 

The medical men, no doubt, were a useful and 
ill-paid class of men, in an early day of the Sandy 
Valley history. It is hard to find out who the 
early doctors were. In fact, skillful old ladies, to 
a great extent, took the place of male physicians 
in administering to the sick. 

De. Hereford was practicing at Louisa as 
early as 1830. 

Dr. James was located at the same place not 
long after, or about the same time. He moved to 
Catlettsburg long before the town was laid out. 

Dr. Cushion went to the Falls of Tug and 
practiced medicine late in the thirties. 

Dr. Yates, of Louisa, followed in the forties. 

Dr. Steel practiced medicine at Prestonburg 
as far back as 1836. 

Dr. Draper, of Pike, was a long time in the 
harness, dying at a great age, in 1885. 

Dr. Johnson came to the Tug River country 
in 1837, and has practiced there ever since, until 
within a few years. 

Dr. Strong has practiced more than thirty 
years at Paintsville, and Dr. S. M. Ferguson near 
forty years on the line of Pike and Floyd. 

Dr. p. S. Pandee commenced the practice of 
medicine at Prestonburg in 1838, moving first to 
Louisa, then to Catlettsburg. He was surgeon in 
the 5th Virginia Infantry during the war. He 



DR. J. D. KINCAID. 



183 



married, for his second wife, Miss Maliala May, of 
Preston burg, his first wife having died. His only 
daughter by the second marriage is the wife of 
Richard Vinson, of Louisa. The doctor died soon 
after the war, near Maysville, Kentucky. His 
widow and only son, P. S. Randle, Jr., moved to 
Wisconsin, where Mrs. Randle had a brother living. 

DR. J. D. KINCAID 

Was born and raised in Greenbrier County, Ya., 

where he received his literary and medical training. 

In 1847 he came 

to what is now 

Catlettsburg and 

commenced the 

practice of his 

profession, which 

he has pursued 

without a single 

break ever since, % 

for a period of ' 

forty years. Dur- / 

ing the forty years 

of his practice 

he never took a 

vacation of six weeks, and never took any until 

within the last few years. No physician in the 

valley has had a larger continuous practice than 

Dr. Kincaid. He is a man of fine literary taste 

and ability, not only keeping well in hand the lit- 




DR. J. D. KINCAID. 



184 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

erature incident to his profession, but is well read 
in the higher grade of general literature. Dr. Kin- 
caid is as familiar with English and American 
classics as the child is with its primer. 

He married Miss Chapman, a lady of great 
worth, who bore him two daughters and one son. 
The son. Dr. James W. Kincaid, graduated in med- 
icine at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, after- 
wards taking clinics in another noted college of 
medicine, which brings to his aid every thing need- 
ful for the successful practitioner. He is mar- 
ried to a worthy young lady, and bids fair to make 
a leading physician. The elder daughter is the 
wife of D. D. Eastham, a prominent lawyer of Cat- 
lettsburg. The younger daughter, a very intelli- 
gent and refined young lady, although quite young 
for such an undertaking, presides at the head of her 
father's home since the death of her mother in 1884. 

Dr. Kincaid has nearly approached his three-score 
and ten mile-stone, on his annual tour of life's jour- 
ney ; yet he looks as young and fresh as most men 
do at fifty. He was a Whig before the war, but 
since that time has been an uncompromising Dem- 
ocrat. The Kincaids are Methodists, and are all 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

Dr. Yates is still practicing at Louisa. He 
has grown wealthy. 

Dr. Strong, at Paintsville, still lives, but is 
very old and feeble. He, too, is wealthy. 



DR. A. P. BANFIELD. 185 

De. Steel moved from Prestonbiirg to Caunons- 
burg about 1850, where he continued to practice till 
1861. He and his wife died soon after at the home 
of their son-in-law, Hon. W. J. Worthington. 

Dk. Johnson still lives, though very feeble. 

Dr. Carnahan has been pmcticing at Round 
Bottom for forty years. He was always a popular 
physician, as well as a popular man. He is now 
quite feeble, but holds out to practice yet. 

DR. A. P. BANFIELD. 

We produce the portrait of the gentleman 
whose name heads this article as a specimen of the 
young physicians of the Sandy Valley. The Ban- 
fields are a prominent people. While not directly 
of the Sandy Valley, they are found all over the 
interior of the eastern portion of the State, filling 
the higher walks of life. Many of them, like their 
kinsman. Dr. A. P. Banfield, are physicians also. 
But on the maternal side he comes of an old Sandy 
house, noted for the intellectual brilliancy of one 
branch of the family and for the solid financial 
grasp of the other. His maternal great-grandfather 
Prichard came from Tazewell County, Va., in an 
early day, and settled on Sandy, one-half mile from 
what is now Rockville, Lawrence County. He left 
two sons, Lewis and James. Lewis Prichard and 
his sons and daughters, all grew rich by strictly at- 
tending to business according to the laws of trade. 

James Prichard, the grandfather of Dr. Ban- 

16 



186 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



field, was a very bright, well-read, intellectual man. 
He was for many years magistrate, first of Carter, 
then of Boyd, and was recognized as the ablest 
member of the County Court on the bench. He 
raised a family of sons and one daughter of re- 
markable intellectual endowment. Hon. K. F. 

Prichard, of 
Boyd, is one of 
his sons, and an 
uncle of Dr. A. P. 
Ban field. Dr. 
Allen Prichard, 
one of Boyd 
County^s most 
noted physicians 
and capitalists, is 
another. Hon. 
G. W. Prichard, 
of Carter, is also 
one. Wily Prich- 
ard, the strong- 
minded man and 
heavy capitalist, is another ; and a very bright son is a 
physician in Indiana; two other sons are farmers, 
and intelligent men. Mrs. Banfield, the sister of 
the bright sons, and mother of Dr. Banfield, is not 
behind the sons in intellectual vigor. She was 
born within two hundred yards of where her gifted 
son keeps his office at the mouth of Bear Creek, 
or Eockville, Ky. 




DR. ALLEN P. BANFIELD. 



JOB DEAN. 187 

Coming of such an ancestry, he could hardly 
fail of success. But he does not depend on the 
prestige of ancestral blood to achieve success, but 
rather on his own exertions. He studied medicine 
with his uncle Allen Prichard ; afterward he attended 
the best seminaries of learning in the country, and 
graduated from one of the best colleges of medicine 
in Cincinnati, and immediately commenced practice 
at Rockville, Ky., where he has had great success. 
His practice, which is very profitable, is more than 
he can attend to. Like his kinsfolk, he is equally 
at home in financial affairs. Although so young, he 
is often called on to settle up large estates, from 
the well-known fact that he is just and accurate 
and trustworthy. He is a strong Democrat in pol- 
itics, and an intelligent politician ; but under no 
circumstance will he run for office, preferring, 
rather, to dictate good men to fill official stations 
than to hold them himself. He is unmarried, but 
is a great society man. He boards at the Rock- 
ville House, kept by Dr. J. F. Hatton. He is not 
thirty-seven years old, yet has accomplished more 
than many men who have lived to three-score and ten. 



JOB DEAN 



Was an early settler on John^s Creek. He was 
very eccentric, but a good scholar. He wrote a 
splendid hand, and was well versed in history. 
Late in life he often wandered from home, and left 



188 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

his wife, who was an excellent woman, to look after 
the house and farm. He was of Irish descent. 
Notwithstanding his many oddities, his children 
turned out well, the mother giving them wholesome 
training. One of his sons. Dr. William H. Dean, 
practiced many years in Pike. Thomas, another 
son, is a physician at Salyersville. James R. Dean, 
the oldest son, is one of the most prominent citizens 
of Lawrence. For more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury the people, without cessation, have kept him 
in office. He has been surveyor, school commis- 
sioner, county judge, and again surveyor. He is 
a large farmer on Blaine. The lady whom he mar- 
ried was a daughter of Robert Walter, a grand- 
daughter of Neri Sweatnum, and a sister of the 
author's wife. 

THE DIXON FAMILY. 

Henry and Joyce Dixon, two brothers, came 
in 1814 and settled on the land where Paintsville 
now stands. Henry was born in 1774, and died in 
1854. Joyce was born in 1772, and died in 1856. 
They came from Grayson County, Virginia. They 
intermarried with the Farmers, a prominent family 
by that name in Virginia. The brothers were 
leading people in their section for a half-century 
nearly. They were in good circumstances. Their 
descendants are regarded as among the leading 
people there. 

Among the descendants are Dr. H. F. Dixon, 



THE ELLINGTONS. 189 

Captain George W. Dixon, Joseph K. Dixon, and 
others. The Dixons are Republicans in politics 
and adherents of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
generally. 

The town of Paintsville was laid out on the 
land of the Dixons. 



THE CANTERBURYS 

Came from North Carolina or South-west Virginia 
in 1800. There were three brothers. Reuben, the 
most prominent, lived for several years where the 
widow Newman now resides. The place is on the 
old maps as Canterbury. He was postmaster there. 
Another brother lived near where Rev. Joseph 
Wright now lives, and still another at the Durney 
place. They were a bright people, with a restive 
nature. Previous to 1837 they had sold out, and 
gone West. 

THE ELLINGTONS 

Also came from North Carolina, in the year 1800. 
Pleasant Ellington was a noted bear and wolf 
hunter of his time. He trapped many wolves on 
what is now known as Ellington's Bear Creek, 
called after him. Wolf-scalps were legal tender in 
those days. Each scalp was worth five dollars, 
paid by the State. But few if any of the Elling- 
tons are now found here. 



190 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

THE NEWMAN FAMILY. 

Peyton and Joseph Newman, the grandfather 
and grand-uncle of Joseph Newman, of Catletts- 
burg, came along with the Ellingtons from North 
Carolina. They settled near the Sandy River, and 
have multiplied until the family is very numerous. 
Many of them have become well-off. Joseph New- 
man, of Catlettsburg, is one of the prominent citi- 
zens there. His father, Peter Newman, who died 
near thirty years ago, was a leading man of the 
valley. 

The Newmans are Democrats, and generally ad- 
here to the Methodist Church. 

The old stock intermarried with the Ballengers, 
Hazeletts, and other noted families. 



THE DEERINGS 



Came to the Little Sandy country about this time. 
Richard, the father of the noted preachers, Rev. 
Richard Deeriug and S. S. Deering, was a genius. 
He was an inventor. He built a little furnace near 
where Hopewell Station now is, but, not doing well, 
came to the Big Sandy in about 1832. He built a 
mill on Abbott, near Prestonburg ; but the country 
was too slow for him. He pulled up stakes and 
moved to Louisville some time in the forties. He 
invented a peculiar fish-trap, which caught many 
fish as they passed up and down the chute over the 



THE CHAPMAN FAMILY. 191 

falls at Louisville. Other fishermen, through envy, 
demolished the trap. 

Mr. Deering and wife were brilliant people, and 
raised a family of children who have been long 
noted for brains and culture. The celebrated Rev. 
John R. Deering, the newspaper writer and min- 
ister, is their grandson. Mollie, the daughter of 
Richard Deering and wife, married David Grace, and 
moved West. 

THE CHAPMAN FAMILY. 

William Chapman, the ancestor of the Chap- 
mans of the Sandy Valley, came from Giles County, 
Va., in 1806, and settled in what is now Lawrence 
County, Ky. Mr. Chapman was followed in 1810 
by William McClure, who was his son-in-law. The 
latter came from Botetourt County, Va. 

Mr. Chapman's grandson. Lieutenant George R. 
Chapman, now holds a patent for land inherited 
from his frandfather, issued by James Monroe, then 
governor of the commonwealth of Virginia, after- 
wards President of the United States. The patent 
was issued to David French, who afterwards trans- 
ferred it to William Chapman, dated April 19, 
1782. It calls for four thousand acres of land. 
The deed from French to Chapman, bearing date 
of 1802, calls for one thousand acres of aforesaid 
patent. When the patent was issued it was for 
Kanawha County, this part of Kentucky then being 
in that jurisdiction. This was before Kentucky 



192 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

County had been established. The tract of land 
embraced in the Chapman purchase from French, 
now owned by Lieutenant Chapman, is situated on 
the west bank of the Sandy, five miles above Louisa, 
and is known as the Gavitt Place. 

Mr. Chapman died at a ripe old age, in 1840, 
on the farm where he first settled after leaving 
Virginia. The wife of his youth lingered on the 
shores of time till 1863, dying at the great age of 
ninety- seven years. 

■ The descendants of William Chapman are very 
numerous in the Sandy Valley, and have spread 
out into various localities and States. When we 
count the descendants in the male and female lines, 
we find but few families in the valley more numer- 
ous than the William Chapman family. The de- 
scendants of William Chapman have brought no 
stain on his fair character and upright life. If 
they have not become as noted as some other fam- 
ilies, they have certainly added much to the ma- 
terial, intellectual, and moral wealth of the country. 
They may not be money-gatherers, but are good 
livers. The family is noted as knowledge seekers. 
One grandson is a skillful physician ; another is 
a professor in a State college; one, who was edu- 
cated at a university, is at the head of a classical 
school ; and another fills the office of superintendent 
of common schools in his native county. A grand- 
daughter was for several years a teacher in a prom- 
inent female college. 



THE CECILS. 193 

Lieutenant George R. Chapman, a grandson, 
now past middle life, was an officer highly spoken 
of in the war for the Union. He resigned his po- 
sition on account of sickness before the war ended. 
He was in the 14th Infantry Regiment, Kentucky 
Volunteers, Union army. He is a leading citizen 
of Louisa. The Chapmans are either members or 
adherents of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 
politics they are nearly all Republicans, although 
some are Democrats. 



THE CECILS, 

Of the Sandy Valley, are of English ancestry. 
Lord Baltimore, who founded the Maryland colony, 
was a Cecil. 

Kinzy B. Cecil came in an early day, and set- 
tled in the John's Creek Valley, where he raised a 
large family, the members of which havp always 
held high rank in the business, political, and social 
affairs of the country. When quite an old man he 
moved down into the Rock Castle country and 
opened up a large plantation. He died there many 
years ago, and his- last resting-place is marked by a 
stone tomb inclosing his grave, erected by his du- 
tiful sons. 

Two of his sons are still living — Samuel, near 
Pikeville, a farmer; and Cob, who is one of the 
solid men of the valley. 

The Cecils have ever been noted for their great 

17 



194 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 

individuality and tenacity to what they believe to 
be right, their motto being to do justice to all the 
world, never to forsake their friends, and fear no man. 

A grandson. Cob Cecil, Jr., is one of Catletts- 
burg's most prominent business men. A son, Hon. 
William Cecil, filled the office of county judge of 
Pike with great credit to himself and profit to his 
people, besides many other places of trust and honor. 
Cob Cecil, Sen., was for many years a leading mer- 
chant of Pike. He, too, has filled official stations 
with honor to himself and usefulness to the people. 
He has been for many years the most potent and 
well-known Democratic politician in the Sandy 
Valley. He married a daughter of General Wm. 
Ratliff, of Pike. 

The Cecils are generally adherents of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South. As a family they 
have been staunch advocates of temperance and good 
morals. 

THE CYRUS FAMILY. 

Abraham, Thomas, William, and Smith Cyrus 
came to what is now Wayne County, West Vir- 
ginia, about 1806. They came from North Caro- 
lina. They were hard-working, energetic men, and 
obtained a competency of this world's goods, and 
were useful citizens. Abraham Cyrus and Ross 
Cyrus, of near Virginia White's Creek, are sons of 
Abraham Cyrus, Sen. They are a Baptist family; 
Democratic in politics. Abraham Cyrus is one of 



ALEXANDER E. ADAMS. 195 

Wayne County's most highly respected citizens. 
Ross is a large farmer and stock-trader. Abraham 
is connected with the Hatton family by his first 
marriage. Ross married a lady of the old house 
of Lockwood. The other branches of the family 
are numerous, living in Wayne County, West Vir- 
ginia, and in other localities. Jesse Cyrus, a 
brother of Abraham and Ross, is a wealthy farmer 
of Boyd County, Ky. John Smith, father of 
Lindsey T. Smith and Edmund M. Smith, was a 
cousin of the Cyruses, and came with them from 
North Carolina. 



ALEXANDER E. ADAMS. 

The subject of our sketch was born in Lee County, 
Virginia, August 15, 1835. At the age of ten 
years he came to Whitesburg, Letcher County, Ky. 
He entered, as store-boy, the service of his brother- 
in-law, D. I. Vermillion, who was a prominent 
merchant of that place. The country was new, the 
public buildings constructed of logs, the staples in 
trade of the country being ginseng and fur skins, 
the farmer often paying his county and State reve- 
nue in coon and opossum skins. The people were 
generally kind and clever, especially to strangers 
traveling through the country, a night's entertain- 
ment for man and horse frequently being not more 
than ten to twelve and a half cents, entire bill, old 
peach and honey included. 



196 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 



Young Adams soon became an expert in the 
fur-trade^ and at the proper seasons was mounted 
on horseback, fully equipped by his employer as a 
traveling fur-buyer. His usual route was over the 
counties of Letcher, Perry, and Harlan, in Ken- 
tucky; Lee County, Ya., and Hancock, in East 
Tennessee. But learning after considerable experi- 
ence, that all could 
not be John Jacob 
Astors (though they 
be fur-buyers), he 
abandoned the fur- 
trade, and bent his 
energies in the pur- 
suit of useful 
knowledge. He at- 
tended for some 
\ time a good coun- 
try school in Lee 
County, Yirginia, 
and next entered 
CAPT. ALEXANDEB E. ADAMS. gnecdsville A c a d - 

emy at Sneedsville, East Tennessee. At the ex- 
piration of his term at the latter institution, he 
found his supply of school-funds exhausted. He 
then returned to his former employer at Whites- 
burg, Kentucky, and engaged with him as clerk 
at a good salary, all of which he carefully laid by 
until his funds were sufficient to again enter school. 
This time he started out on foot, and soon after 




ALEXANDER E. ADAMS. 197 

found himself a student of Mossy Creek College, 
Tennessee, at which place he remained until he 
finished the course of studies he had so long de- 
sired. He then left Mossy Creek for his now 
adopted home in Kentucky, and he and his brother- 
in-law, Vermillion, entered into a co-partnership 
under the style and firm name of Vermillion & 
Adams. 

Some time after the above firm was organized 
Mr. Adams went to Baltimore, and became a student 
of the Baltimore Commercial College, at which 
place he graduated with high honors in 1861. He 
returned to his home in Kentucky to engage 
largely and earnestly in the business for which he 
was now so well qualified. But, to his great dis- 
appointment, in place of his former prosperous busi- 
ness, he found that bitterness, hatred, and strife 
were raining down from the great war-cloud of the 
Rebellion among, his people. The time had come 
that all men must take sides, and Mr. Adams 
promptly espoused the cause of the United States 
Government. 

At a convention of Union men, held at Pike- 
ville, Ky., in 1861, Mr. Adams was declared the 
nominee of the party to represent the people of his 
district in the next Legislature of Kentucky. Mr. 
Adams made several public speeches in the district, 
and was threatened with instant death at some 
points if he attempted to speak; yet he made the 
race without receiving personal violence, and was 



198 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

beaten. Then h6 was notified by a friend to leave 
the country or he would be taken to Richmond, Va. 
He then set about raising a company of soldiers, for 
the purpose of aiding in the suppression of the 
Rebellion. The company was raised, and joined 
with the 19th Kentucky Infantry. Mr. Adams 
was elected and commissioned as captain of Com- 
pany D, the company he had raised, and marched 
to camp at his own expense. He was engaged in 
the battles of seven days in the rear of Yicksburg, 
on the Yazoo River. The United States troops 
were defeated. Captain Adams, with his company, 
composing the rear guard on the retreat of the army to 
the gun-boats. The next move of the troops (which 
was immediately) was on Arkansas Post, which 
place was captured with all the Confederate troops, 
eight thousand in number, and all of their arms 
and munitions of war. Captain Adams, in charge 
of one hundred men, assisted in the destruction of 
the fortifications. The army then returned, to re- 
new the fight on Yicksburg, this time in front of 
the city. Captain Adams's health was now so much 
impaired that he was unable to longer command in 
person his much-beloved company, and under 
orders of General Grant relieving the army of all 
permanently disabled soldiers, in order to make a 
decisive assault on the enemy's stronghold, Yicks- 
burg, Captain Adams tendered his resignation, 
which was accepted. 

In 1863 he was married to Miss Georgie A. 



ALEXANDER E. ADAMS. 199 

Dils, eldest daughter of Colonel John Dils^ Jr., of 
Pike County, Ky. Soon after his marriage he was 
elected by the people of his old district to repre- 
sent them in the Kentucky Legislature. Next in 
order he was appointed United States assessor of 
his county, but soon after resigned. In 1870 he 
was appointed assistant marshal for Pike County, 
to take the census. In March, 1876, Mr. Adams 
was appointed by President Grant, consul at Port 
Said in Egypt, and received his commission April 
3d, following. But after waiting in Washington 
City, for three months, on Congress to make an ap- 
propriation for his, as well as many other similar 
missions, which Congress failed to do, disgusted at 
the non-action of Congress, Mr. Adams resigned his 
position, and returned to his home in Kentucky. 
A short time after his return, he was tendered the 
United States marshalship of Kentucky, but de- 
clined the position. He was elected State senator 
from the Thirty -third District in 1879, which po- 
sition he filled with honor to himself and entire 
satisfaction to the people of the eight counties com- 
posing his district. During his term of office as 
senator, he was chosen as a delegate to the Repub- 
lican national convention, June, 1880, at Chicago, 
which nominated James A. Garfield for President 
of the United States. He also holds a medal, 
commemorative of the thirty-six ballots of the Old 
Guard for Ulysses S. Grant for President of the 
United States. 



200 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Mr. Adams siDce, and during a portion of his 
public career, was engaged in mercantile pursuits, in 
which he was successful; but owing to bad health 
he retired from the latter, went on a farm, and is 
to-day the pioneer tobacco farmer of Eastern Ken- 
tucky, being the first to raise the weed in quantity 
for export. He is also the first to manufacture 
wines in quantity for export from native wild 
fruits, all of his wines taking gold premiums. 
Mr. Adams has devoted much of his time, both 
public and private, to develop the vast natural 
wealth of Eastern Kentucky, having at all times 
favored internal improvement, never having failed 
as a law-maker to favor the granting of railroad 
charters throughout the State, and the building by 
convict-labor great State turnpike roads through 
Eastern Kentucky. He favored free education to all 
classes within the school age, regardless of color or 
previous condition. 



HOWES FAMILY. 



Among the numerous families whose planting in 
the valley was unheralded by early fame, yet whose 
progeny has increased so rapidly as to become a 
strong family, must be mentioned the descendants 
of Alexis Howes. Mr. Howes came into the region 
of country about where Paintsville now stands, as 
early as 1815. He and his family were Methodists 



HOWES FAMILY. 201 

of the pioneer type; and for more than a quarter 
of a century he exercised his gifts as a local 
preacher. He had several sons and daughters. 

Among the sons, John Howes, who for more 
than twenty years was clerk of the courts in Johnson 
County, was also a local preacher in the Methodist 
Church, and one of the most highly respected citi- 
zens of his county. He died near the close of the 
Internal War, greatly loved and venerated by 
his family, and lamented by the entire community. 
Another son, Wiley Howes, is a noted lawyer of 
Salyersville, Ky. John left a large family of sons 
and daughters, several of whom are still living in 
Paintsville, where all were born and came to man- 
hood and womanhood. The sons, together with 
their brothers — Rev. Charles J. Howes, presiding 
elder on the Covington District, Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, and Rev. George W. Howes, now pas- 
tor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Catletts- 
burg — have all filled high positions of official trust 
or honor at the hands of the people of Johnson 
County. One of the daughters is the wife of Rev. 
William Childers, a member of the Kentucky Con- 
ference, Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. G. W. 
Howes voluntarily gave up official position in his 
county, and renounced the practice of the law to 
become a Methodist preacher. Their mother was a 
highly respected Christian lady, and died about the 
same time as the father. 

The other descendants of Alexis Howes are 



202 THE BIG SAND Y VALLEY. 

scattered over several States, and are Highly re- 
spected people. The Howes are a brainy and cul- 
tured people. 

THE HATFIELD FAMILY 

Had a small beginning on coming and settling in 
the great valley, but has increased in number and 
influence until it is a mighty host. Ephraim Hat- 
field, the founder of the house in the Sandy Valley, 
came from Russell County, Va., in 1795, and, with 
his wife and children, settled on the waters of the 
Tug River, in what is now Pike County. Ephraim 
left a son, George, who became the father of Madi- 
son, Polly (who married Alexis Music), Ransom, 
James, Alexis, Anderson, Johnson, Bazell, Wallace, 
Elias, and Floyd. Brothers and cousins of Ephraim, 
the founder, settled in Logan County, now West 
Virginia, whose descendants have become exceed- 
ingly numerous. When the AVest Virginia branch 
is added to the thrifty Kentucky house, the Hat- 
fields outnumber most other families in the Sandy 
Valley. A few years ago, at a large gathering of 
the people of the Tug region to listen to a political 
discussion, it was founds out that over three hun- 
dred voters in the crowd were either Hatfields or 
had Hatfield blood coursing through their veins. 

Prominent men have appeared from time to 
time in the family, who rose above the average 
walk in life. Several preachers have emerged from 
the house, and become noted in their vicinity, whilst 



THE HA TFIELD FA MIL Y. 203 

others have been called upon to fill important of- 
ficial stations. Bazell made an excellent judge of 
Pike County, and is now the model sheriff of the 
same county ; and most people in Pike concede 
that the affairs of the county were never better ad- 
ministered by judge or sheriff than they have been 
under the regime of Bazell Hatfield. 

The Hatfields are noted for physical develop- 
ment and strength, and, while by no means ignor- 
ing scholastic learning, depend largely upon com- 
mon sense to carry them through. They read the 
book of nature more critically than they do the 
text-books of the schools, although many of them 
are well versed in scholastic training. They are a 
high-spirited family, but are kind, neighborly, and 
just to all who treat them justly. An enemy, how- 
ever, might as well kick over a bee-gum in warm 
weather, and expect to escape the sting of the insect, 
as to tramp on the toes of one of these spirited, 
tall sons of the mountains, and not expect to be 
knocked down. 

Kansom Hatfield has been a resident of Boyd 
County since 1877. Although he moved down 
from Pond Creek, in Pike County, and had never 
read an agricultural book or paper in his life, he 
has done much by his industry, and correct judg- 
ment applied to farming, to help educate his neigh- 
bor farmers in the science of husbandry. He is a 
man of great strength of character and kindness of 
heart. Sheriff John Richardson, who is his son-in- 



204 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

law, appointed him as the chief guard to attend 
Henry Freese from the jail to the scaffold, on which 
he suffered the extreme penalty of the law, in 
August, 1885, at Catlettsburg. Mr. Hatfield ex- 
horted the doomed man to exert every power of 
mind and muscle, as well as to call on God for 
help, to enable him to meet his end with becoming 
fortitude, and the encouragement given the culprit 
by Mr. Hatfield so nerved him up that he met the 
awful shock with heroic composure. 

The Hatfields were originally nearly all Demo- 
crats in politics, but since the war they have be- 
come strong Republicans, with but few exceptions. 
Bazell Hatfield, sheriff of Pike, is a Republican ; 
Ransom, of Boyd, is a mild Democrat. They are a 
strong Baptist people in religious matters. Phys- 
ically, they are tall and muscular, with a good share 
of brains and will-power. 



THE HOLBROOK FAIVIILY 

Came from North Carolina early in the present 
century, and mostly settled on the head-waters ot 
Blaine. They were a well-off people, who brought 
their slaves with them. Many of the family now 
( 1887 ) are numbered amongst the well-to-do people 
of the valley. Alonzo Holbrook, of Flat Gap, Ky., 
is a scion of the family. 



THE HATCHERS. 205 

THE HATCHERS, 
While not among the first settlers in the valley, 
are by no means late arrivals. James H. Hatcher 
married a Miss Peery in Tazewell County, Va., 
and settled at the mouth of Mud Creek in about 
1830. They had born to them a large family of 
sons, who early developed into business men, and 
have for forty years occupied a conspicuous place 
in the mercantile affairs of the valley. By the 
mother^s side of the house they are connected by 
consanguinity with many leading families of the 
valley. Mrs. David Borders, Mrs. ^^ Coby ^^ Pres- 
ton (afterwards Mrs. Dr. Strong), Mrs. K. N. Har- 
ris, and Mrs. Arthur Preston were sisters of Mrs. 
Hatcher. 

Mr. Hatcher died in the prime of life, about 
1845, and his widow not until 1886, at quite an ad- 
vanced age. All the sisters are now dead but Mrs. 
Harris, who lives with her daughter in Utah. An- 
drew Hatcher, a son, and his sons, are very promi- 
nent business men at Pikeville. James, another 
son, married Mary C. Herriford, daughter of Dr. 
Herriford, and merchandises at the mouth of Abbott. 
Kenes F. and Ferdinand are both prominent citizens 
of the valley. Mrs. Frank Morrell is a daughter of 
Jas. H. Hatcher. The Hatchers have always been 
identified with the Methodist Church, and now most 
of the family are working members in the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, South. They are Democrats. 



206 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

JOSEPH GARDNER. 

Joseph Gardner, an American, went to the 
Island of St. Domingo, West Indies, and married a 
French lady. Soon after the blacks rose in rebell- 
ion against their white masters, engaging in indis- 
criminate slaughter of all whites, whether citizens 
or sojourners. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner escaped with 
their lives, bringing away with them, in their hasty 
flight, one little negro slave. They came to the 
Sandy Valley, or rather Greenup County, and 
started out in life anew. 

Mr. Gardner was a brave, bold man, of great 
force of character, and brainy withal. He bought 
on the waters of the Big Sandy, great cargoes of 
bear-skins and other pelts and furs, took the stock 
to Pittsburgh in keel-boats, and sold out to the 
agents of foreign houses at great profits. He ac- 
cumulated much wealth. These transactions oc- 
curred in the early part of the present century. 

WASHINGTON GARDNER, 

His son, married Nancy, daughter of Joseph 
Bloomer, of Bloomer's Bar. Washington Gardner 
was the father of Hon. Joseph Gardner and Captain 
Henry Gardner, of Salyersville, Magoffin County. 
The family has from its foundation been noted for 
the high social and financial positions occupied by 
its members. They are connected with the Raisons, 
of Kentucky, and the Samuels, of West Virginia. 



JOHN HENRY FORD. 207 

Henry Gardner served as captain in the Civil War 
on the side of the Union. The Gardners are 
mostly Democrats in politics. 



JOHN HENRY FORD 

Came from Fluvanna County, Va., and settled in 
Prestonburg about 1840. He moved his family to 
Catletttsburg in 1852. He was a blacksmith. His 
wife was a Friend, a prominent family of Floyd 
County, who came from Monroe County, Va. 

Many of the Friends have held high official po- 
sitions. R. S. Friend, of Prestonburg, is now fill- 
ing one with rare ability. The Friends have inter- 
married with many of the best families of the valley. 

Mrs. Ford still lives to bless her children; but 
her husband passed away in 1886. He left a fam- 
ily of children, all grown. Charles Winston and 
Tandy Lewis, two of the sons, are among the lead- 
ing business men of Catlettsburg. Winston is a 
leading Democratic politician, and his brother, 
Tandy, is equally strong as a Republican ; and 
while the brothers give each other no quarter in 
party strife, they are as lovable in the social 
amenities of life as were Jonathan and David. 

When Mr. Ford died, the hearts of the old 
settlers were touched, and his funeral was largely 
attended. He was a relative of the Mayos, of 
Sandy. 



208 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 



J. LEE FERGUSON, 

The publisher and editor of the Pikeville Times, a 
Republican paper, started by him in 1885, and still 
conducted with ability, is a son of Dr. S. M. Fer- 
guson, a leading capitalist and physician of Floyd 
County, Ky., and was born in 1852. He received 
a good common-school education in his neighbor- 
hood, and after- 
wards obtained a 
collegiate course 
in a Virginia in- 
stitution; studied 
law, and gradu- 
ated at the Law 
University o f 
Iowa City, Iowa ; 
obtained license 
to practice, and 
opened an office 
in Pikeville,Ky., 
and rose to prom- 
inence. He is 
now the county prosecutor, although the county is 
politically largely against him. He is a good 
writer, and bids fair to take a high rank as an ed- 
itor and lawyer. He is unmarried. It is needless 
to say that he is an ardent Republican. 




J. LEE FEEGUSON. 



THE ENDICOTTS. 209 

HON. JOHN M. ELLIOTT 

Was so weU known to the Sandy people, that they 
have his eventful life indelibly pictured both in their 
memory and on their hearts. He, too, like so 
many others, added luster to the bar of Preston- 
burg. The high position to which he attained, 
the many official stations he adorned, and the tragic 
manner of his death, will always keep his name 
embalmed in the memory of Sandy people. It is a 
small consolation to his widow and to his friends, 
now the mists have been swept away by time and 
circumstances, to believe that his slayer was a 
crank, scarcely responsible for taking the life of 
one of earth's warm-hearted sons, and a jurist as 
pure as a Marshall or a Story. His widow lives in 
Catlettsburg, keeping green in her memory the 
goodness and greatness of her great husband. 



THE ENDICOTTS 



Of the Lower Tug Valley are quite an old family. 
Samuel, the father of the large family of Endicotts 
now living in Wayne County, West Virginia, and 
in Martin County, Kentucky, came from South- 
western Virginia in an early day, being attracted 
to the country by the great number of bear and 
deer found on the Tug. He was a great hunter in 
his day. He succeeded in procuring a title to con- 
siderable land, which his children inherited. 

18 



210 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

The Endicotts have always been noted as a 
mild-mannered people, governed by the precepts of 
right and justice, although one of the Endicotts 
(not, however, of the Samuel Endicott branch), 
killed a man in the Rock Castle country in 1860, 
which caused an intense excitement at that time. 
Samuel Endicott's descendants are generally moral 
and trustworthy, and good citizens. 



THE LESLIE FAMILY 

Belongs to the Celtic race. William Leslie came 
from Ireland to America before the American Rev- 
olution, and settled in the valley of Virginia. 
He was a patriot, and fought against the king. 
Robert, his son, came to Sandy with his family in 
1798, r settling at the mouth of Pond, where he 
made a crop. He, however, was driven off by the 
Indians before he had been there a year. He, with 
his family, returned again in 1800, this time 
settling on John's Creek, at a place now and from 
that time known as the Leslie Settlement. 

Robert's son, Pharmer Leslie, was the first male 
child born on the waters of John's Creek. The 
event occured soon after the family came to the 
country. Pharmer became one of the prominent 
men of the Sandy Valley. He was a model farmer 
and grew rich at farming, stock-raising, and tim- 
bering. He was a man of high character. He was 
the father of seven sons, four of whom are still 



THE LESLIE FAMILY. 211 

living. A granddaughter married Dr. Jackson, a 
noted physician of Pike County. The sons, like 
the father, were men of mark, noted for energy, 
honesty, and fair dealing. They married into lead- 
ing families of the valley, and now the Leslie fam- 
ily is one of the largest as well as one of the most 
noted in the valley. Doctors and lawyers are repre- 
sentatives of the house, as well as merchants and 
traders. One, a scion of the house, came to the 
front as a newspaper man several years since. 

In early days, when the plank in the upper 
John's Creek country was sawed by hand, and 
used as fast as sawed, William Leslie died, at 
seventy-three, and no plank could be procured to 
make a coffin to bury him in. Nor could a whip- 
saw be procured to saw enough. His relatives and 
friends were determined to give him a decent 
burial ; so they had a nice poplar-tree cut down, and 
chopped off a log of proper length, squared it up, 
and with ax and adze, shaped it into a coffin, dig- 
ging out a trough. They took clapboards and 
shaved them, with which they made a nice lid for 
the trough-like casket, and in this unique case the 
remains of William Leslie, of John's Creek, were 
consigned to mother earth. 

Pharmer Leslie died in 1883, at nearly eighty- 
four years of age. One feels sad that a man like 
Mr. Leslie could not have been spared to witness 
the coming of the railroad up the valley. In child- 
hood he had many times heard the growl of the 



2 1 2 THE BIG SAND Y VALLE Y. 

bear, the howl of the wolf, the scream of the 
panther, and the savage yell of the Indian. What 
a contrast would it have been to him to have 
listened to catch the piercing scream of the loco- 
motive, and to see the smoke and fire issuing from 
the nostrils of the fiery steed, as he drags in his 
wake scores of iron chariots, laden with the wealth 
of all climes — all traveling faster than the winds 
of old ocean ! But God is good, and we must bow 
to the incidents of locality and circumstances. 

The Leslies are Democrats in politics, but are 
not office-seekers. In religion they are mostly 
Southern Methodists. 



THE KINNER FAMILY. 

Mr. Kinner came from South-western Virginia 
at quite an early period of Sandy history, and set- 
tled near the mouth of Bear Creek, Ky. He pro- 
cured land in the vicinity sufficient to make a good 
farm for each of his numerous children. The sons 
and daughters, as they grew up, married into the 
leading families of their community. Hansford H., 
while not the oldest, at an early age became con- 
spicuous for the energy and talent displayed as a 
timber-trader on the Sandy. He married a Miss 
Curnutte, the daughter of an old-time citizen, 
always respected for his good qualities. About 1856 
Mr. Hansford H. Kinner moved from his place in 
Lawrence County to the vicinity of Catlettsburg, 



THE KINNER FAMILY. 213 

where he has ever since resided^ being engaged 
during that period in coal-mining, timber-trading, 
merchandising, and milling. He has always sus- 
tained the highest reputation for honesty, integrity, 
and energy. A great reverse overtook him the past 
Summer in the utter destruction by fire of the saAV 
and planing mills and furniture factory of Smith, 
Mitchell & Co., in which he was part owner. 
The Kinners were all Union men during the 
Civil War. Since then they have been Democrats. 

HON. S. GIRARD KINNER, 

The only son of Hansford H. Kinner, was well 
educated at the schools in his neighborhood. He 
afterwards spent some time at Center College, Ky., 
and at South Bend, Ind., and finished his collegiate 
course at Wesleyan University, Delaware, O. Soon 
after leaving college, he married Miss Ceres Well- 
man, youngest daughter of Judge Jerry Wellman, 
and settled in Catlettsburg. On finishing his study 
of the law, which he chose for a life profession, he 
at once entered upon its practice. He was ap- 
pointed, by the board of trustees of Catlettsburg, 
town attorney ; he was afterwards nominated by the 
Democratic party of Boyd as a candidate for county 
attorney, and elected by a handsome majority over 
his Republican opponent. This was in 1874. In 
1882 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the 
Sandy Valley Criminal District. Having served in 
all these places so ably, the people, without much 



214 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

regard to politics, re-elected him to fill the same 
office for another term. 

Mr. Kinner is a pronounced Democrat in politics, 
and in religion is a liberalist, with a leaning to the 
Southern Methodist Church. His father and 
mother are leading members in that communion. 



THE JOHNS FAMILY, 

While not so numerous as some, has age and 
respectability on its side. Thomas Johns, the 
founder, came from Virginia in an early day, and 
helped to clear out the valley and make it the fit 
dwelling-place of men. His descendants are now 
found scattered along the banks of the Sandy from 
Pikeville to Louisa, all occupying a high position 
in life. John Johns, the merchant at Prestonburg 
of that name ; Daniel Johns, now of Minnesota ; 
James Johns, of Louisa ; Harvey Johns, of Mud, 
as well as many with Johns blood in their veins, 
inheriting it from their mother's side,- — are all 
prominent people. 



THE HATTON FAMILY. 

Samuel Hatton, the early progenitor of the 
Sandy Valley branch, was born in London, Eng- 
land. On the day George III was crowned king 



THE HATTON FAMILY. 215 

of Great Britain was SamueFs anniversary, being 
eleven years old at the time. He received a num- 
ber of presents on this his natal day, which caused 
him to feel quite hilarious. Under the excitement, 
he made some disparaging criticisms on the new 
king, which came to his master's ears (for he was 
apprenticed to a paper-hanger), who gave the little 
rebel a flogging for his temerity. Smarting under 
the blows, he ran away, leaving his widowed mother 
and brothers and sisters, and went to Ireland, where, 
boy as he was, he obtained work at his trade, of a 
ship-owner in one of the sea-ports of that island. 

After remaining one year, his employer prevailed 
on him to take passage on one of his vessels bound 
for America. He landed in Alexandria, Va., three 
months after leaving Ireland. 

He drifted about until the Revolutionary strug- 
gle commenced. True to the instincts of his boy- 
hood, he enlisted in the army, and fought all 
through until the surrender of Cornwallis at 
Yorktown. 

He married Rosannah Queen, of Loudoun County, 
Virginia, where sons and daughters were born unto 
them. Of these sons, Samuel and Josiah came to 
the Lower Sandy Valley in 1790, and settled near 
what is now known as Turman's Ferry, in West 
Virginia, just below Round Bottom. Philip, an- 
other son, came out a year or so later. 

These brothers were single men when they came 
west ; but each, soon after arriving, finding it not 



216 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 

good to be alone, took a wife, and established a 
home. 

Samuel Hatton married Nancy Campbell, whose 
father's family came to the country from Redstone. 
CampbelFs Branch, a streamlet emptying into the 
Sandy River five miles above Catlettsburg, was 
named in honor of Nancy Campbell, whose father 
lived upon the stream, and gave his daughter a 
farm on its banks. 

Jonah Hatton married Margaret Wallace, and 
Philip married Jane Card well. 

In a few years after Philip's arrival, another son 
of Samuel, Sen., came on, and soon after married 
Elizabeth McGinness. 

David, a twin-brother of Elijah, came soon after, 
having married Sally Purgett in Virginia. The 
last-named two brothers settled near where Samuel, 
Jonah, and Philip had located. 

From these five brothers have sprung all the 
Hattons of Boyd County, Hentucky, and Wayne 
County, West Virginia, and many have moved 
West — a numerous host, numbering more than four 
hundred souls. 

The Hattons have ever maintained a reputation 
for industry, honesty, and integrity. In searching 
the records of crime, no Hattons' name is found on 
the black catalogue. They are generally farmers, 
although numbers of them are engaged in commer- 
cial pursuits. Joseph F. Hatton, a grandson of 
Jonah Hatton, is a noted merchant of Rockville, 



THE HA TTON FAMIL Y. 217 

Ky. Strother Hatton, who is known as the Egyp- 
tian corn-merchant and farmer of Elijah's Creek, 
West Virginia, is a man of wealth. Samuel K. is 
a bright business man, lately gone to Illinois. Wily 
Hatton is one of the wealthy farmers of the Sandy 
Valley, living three miles from the Mouth, in West 
Virginia. 

Allen Hatton, now a venerable old man, carefully 
attended to by his nephew, Joseph F. Hatton, at 
Rockville, Ky., is one of the best informed men 
living on Sandy. Allen is a son of Jonah Hatton. 
Allen Hatton was, in his younger days, a steam- 
boatman, and in 1843 piloted the first steamer that 
ever went above Louisa. He says mothers rushed 
to the bank on hearing the steam escape, bringing 
their offspring along to see the wonder of their 
lives. Chickens and geese ran from the barn-yards 
on the banks in great affright. Horses and cattle 
were seized with fear, and dashed away to the hills 
to escape the awful calamity that seemed to threaten 
them. But now how changed ! Steamboats pass 
up and down the Sandy almost daily, laden with 
merchandise going up, and returning with the pro- 
ducts of the farm, the forest, and apiary, in exchange. 
The Hattons were nearly all Union people dur- 
ing the civil strife. Since the war most of them 
have acted with the Republican party, while some, 
however, are strong Democrats. In Church rela- 
tion they are mostly Methodist, although a few are 
of the Baptist faith. 

19 



218 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

The author forgot to state that Jonah Hatton 
was a soldier of the War of 1812, serving in the 
same company with William Cyrus, an uncle of 
Abraham and Ross Cyrus. 



THE HARRIS FAMILY, 

Of Sandy, are a brainy set. James P. was the early 
ancestor. He married a daughter of Judge Gra- 
ham. They are connected with the Harmons, of 
Virginia, an intellectual family. Many of the 
Floyd Harrises have filled public offices. Some 
have been lawyers; some are now members of 
the bar. 

Henry C. Harris was a brilliant man. He went 
to Newport some time in the forties, where he died. 

K. N. Harris was an eccentric man, but had a 
solid education. He once lived in Catlettsburg ; 
but after the great fire, made his home in Preston- 
burg, but left there and went to Paintsville, where 
he died in 1885. His sons, living in Utah, were 
very good to him in decrepitude and old age. Un- 
like the most of the family, he was a Whig in poli- 
tics, and an aggressive Union man during the 
Civil War. 



JOHN S. PATTON, 

One of the prominent citizens and an able lawyer 
of Martin County, was born in Lawrence County 



JOHN S. PATTON. 



219 



about thirty-four years ago, where he resided up to 
about fifteen years ago. His parents came from 
Virginia just before his advent into the world. 
They were honorable people, and possessed good 
mental powers, which the son inherited. Not being 
rich, they could furnish their bright boy with but 
few books in his youthful days ; but he made good 
use of all coming in his way. 

When eighteen years old he was found teaching 
school, and soon after commenced the study of the 
law. In 1869 he was 
admitted to the bar at 
Greenup, Ky., under 
Judge R. H. Stanton, 
having previously 
passed a creditable ex- 
amination before Judge 
M. J. Ferguson at Lou- 
isa. The same year 
Mr. Patton settled in 
the then new county 
of Martin, and entered 
upon the brilliant ca- John s. patton. 

reer that has distinguished him ever since. Mr. 
Patton's personal popularity is so great that 
twice the people of Martin have elected him their 
county attorney, although the county is overwhelm- 
ingly opposed to him in politics. 

Soon after going to Martin County, he married 
a daughter of Dr. Hinkle, a lady well qualified in 




220 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



every way to journey with him through life. They 
have no children. 

In starting out on professional life, Mr. Patton 
was of a jovial turn of mind, but for eight years 
has been a model of sobriety and Christian virtue. 
He is a humble Christian, and does much to help 
the cause of morality and Christian progress in his 
section. He is a working member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South, but his liberality 
takes in all Christian people. 



ARTHUR PRESTON, 

Whose portrait 
appears in this 
book, is a de- 
scendant of Moses 
Preston, Sen., and 
Isaac Preston, his 
son. He is a 
young merchant, 
and one of the 
younger timber- 
traders on Sandy. 
He is quite a 
student, and has 
read and digested 
much; is a lead- 
ing Democratic politician of his section, but not an 
office-seeker, being too much absorbed in business 




ARTHUR PRESTON, JR. 



THE PATTONS. 221 

to spare the time to hold an office were it thrust upon 
him. He is a potent factor, however, in shaping by 
his counsels the destiny of his party, and is popular 
with his own party and well liked by his opponents. 
He is a coming man, if no check interposes his 
progress to fame. He belongs to several benevolent 
orders, but is a liberal in his religious belief. 



THE PATTONS, 



While not an old-time Sandy family, have for 
thirty years been identified with the business in- 
terests of the valley. William M. Patton, the 
father of the three Patton Brothers of the drug- 
house carried on by them, was for many years a 
prominent figure in the social, moral, and material 
interests of Catlettsburg. He died fifteen years 
ago, greatly respected for his noble Christian quali- 
ties, leaving not only material wealth to his descend- 
ants, but, better still, a name above reproach. His 
aged widow still lives in the spacious Patton man- 
sion, one of the most elegant homes in Catlettsburg, 
An accomplished daughter is a fitting companion 
to her mother in her graceful passage down the 
declivity of life. 

The three sons, George B., James, and Dr. 
W. A. Patton, have, by skill and energy, built 
up the largest drug-trade in Kentucky, outside of 
Louisville. 



222 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Judge Joseph- Patton, a brother of William M. 
Patton, commenced the milling business at Catletts- 
burg in 1862, and he and his enterprising sons 
have successfully prosecuted it ever since. The 
judge died in 1885, but the business goes along 
all the same under charge of the sons. Joseph 
Patton was a public man, filling the offices 
of town trustee and county judge, and occupying a 
seat in the Kentucky Legislature before he moved 
to Boyd. He was a sterling Democrat, while his 
brother, W. M. Patton, was an equally strong Re- 
publican. 

The Pattons are mostly Presbyterians, especially 
W. M. Patton's family, while the judge's family 
are adherents of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South. 

JOHN W. LANGLEY 

Is the son of Joseph R. Langley, a prominent citi- 
zen of Floyd County. At fifteen years of age John 
W. Langley declined his father's oifer to educate 
him at college, preferring to depend on his own ex- 
ertions to win his way in life. At sixteen years of 
age he received the highest grade in the county to 
teach school. He passed the civil service exami- 
nation, and was appointed an examiner in August, 
1882. He was promoted for efficiency, though only 
nineteen years old when appointed. He entered 
Columbia Law University in 1882, where he took 
the junior course. Next year he entered the 



JOHN W. LANOLEY. 



223 



National Law University, from which he was grad- 
uated in 1884, receiving the degree of Bachelor of 
Law. He then entered the post-graduate course in 
the institution, and in June, 1886, received the de- 
gree of Master of Law, and won the prize for the 
best essay upon a legal question, standing second 
for the class 
medal. His sub- 
ject was " Mar- 
r i e d Wo m e n 
under the Law.'' 
He then passed 
the bar examina- 
tion, answering 
90 per cent of the 
questions, and 
was, upon motion 
of one of the fac- 
ulty of the uni- 
versity, admitted 
to the bar of the 
Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Since 
Mr. Langley's return to Prestonburg, his home, he 
has been admitted to the bar there, 

Mr. Langley has a genial, sunshiny nature, and 
makes friends wherever he goes. He is a Repub- 
lican in politics of the most pronounced type, but is 
liberal in his treatment of those who diifer from 
him. In age, he has just commenced ascending 
the steps of twenty. 




JOHN W. LANGLEY. 



224 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



MAJOR BURCHETT. 

Major Drew J. Burchett's great-grandfather 
and grand-uncles, who came to Floyd in an early 
day, were all fighters on the side of freedom in the 
Revolutionary War. The grandson and grand- 
nephew inherited the pluck of his ancestors. In 1861 

he was found 
with his whip in 
his hands, driv- 
ing oxen and 
hauling saw- 
logs ; but when 
the tocsin was 
sounded, calling 
on the young to 
rally round the 
Old Flag, young 
Burchett threw 
down his whip, 
turned out his 
cattle, and en- 
listed as a private in the 14th Kentucky Volunteer 
Infantry, United States Army. His grit, boldness, 
and daring soon elevated him from a private's po- 
sition to that of major of the regiment. He served 
with great courage on many a hotly contested field 
in Georgia, and, while as brave as Csesar, was as 
popular with his comrades as any man in the 
regiment. 




MAJOR D. J. BURCHETT. 



THE BURGESS FAMILY. 225 

At the end of the war he returned to Louisa, 
bought a splendid home, and married Miss Jones, 
a daughter of Daniel Jones, formerly of Preston- 
burg. By industry and perseverance, he became 
one of the solid citizens of his toAvn and section, 
owning many houses and lots, and is now success- 
fully engaged in a large leather and shoe estab- 
lishment. 

He has twice represented Lawrence and Boyd 
in the Legislature, and ran for the State Senate in 
the district composed of Lawrence, Boyd, and 
Elliott. Though the district was very largely 
Democratic, he was nearly elected, notwithstanding 
the popularity of his opponent. 

Major Burchett had the nomination for a seat 
in Congress tendered to him by the Republicans of 
his district in 1886, and had flattering prospects of 
an election had he accepted the nomination. 

He has a lovely family, noted for their refined en- 
lightenment. He is a leading Mason and a humane 
man; is the friend of temperance, and the pro- 
moter of religion. He is about forty-seven years 
of age. 

THE BURGESS FAMILY, 

Of the lower Sandy Valley, is of Scotch origin, the 
ancestors coming over to Virginia before the 
American Revolution. 

Edward, the founder of the house on Sandy, 
came from Giles County, Virginia, about 1800, or 



226 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

before. The Burgesses are kinsmen of the Colonel 
Ralph Stewart family, who came from the same 
section in the Old Dominion. 

Edward Burgess had two sons, Edward and Will- 
iam. William^s sons were George R. and Edward 
(who were twins), Reuben, Strother, and John (who 
was killed by the falling of a tree when a young 
man). Edward met his death, when eight years 
old, by being scalded to death in a kettle of boil- 
ing sugar-sap. 

The daughters were Clara and Rebecca, who 
were twins. Clara married Edward Winfield ; 
Rebecca married Louis Riggleston. They moved 
to Iowa, and did Avell. Permitta, another daughter, 
married a McGranahan ; Nancy, married a Mr. Will- 
iams, and went West. Sarah, the youngest, mar- 
ried a Mr. Donohoe, and nioved to Kansas and 
got rich. 

The William Burgess branch have all come to 
the front as good citizens and fine business men 
and women. Reuben was a little ^^off,'^ but never 
lost his integrity. George R., who married into 
the noted family of Spurlocks, is perhaps the best 
representative of his father's family. At least he is 
better known in the valley than his other brothers 
and sisters. For forty years he has been a magis- 
trate, and has represented his county in the Legis- 
lature of the State. He is now an old man, stricken 
in years, and full of honors. He reared a large 
family of children, many of them How occupying a 



THE BARTRAMS. 227 

front rank in the mercantile, professional, and 
social walks of life. Two sons are doctors ; one is 
a lawyer and State senator in West Virginia, while 
still another was a minister in the Methodist 
Church, South, though now dead. 

Mr. George R, Burgess and wife enjoyed their 
golden wedding in the Summer of 1886. 

Edward Burgess, the brother of William, was at 
one time sheriff of Lawrence County, and like his 
brother, reared up a large, respectable family, who, 
together with their descendants, are among Law- 
rence County's best and most prominent citizens. 
George Burgess, who married into the prominent 
family of Johns, was a man of rare integrity and 
honor, and left to his large family of children a price- 
less name and much wealth. Edward and Gorden 
were noble men, and left large families to bless the 
county. The Burgesses are Methodists. In politics, 
they are divided. Most of them, however, are Demo- 
crats. A promising son of Edward Burgess, the third 
in line of that name, was an officer in the Union army 
and fell in defense of the stars and stripes. 



THE BARTRAMS. 

David Bartram, when a boy, began his Sandy 
Valley career near the forks of the Sandy and the 
Tug. He came to the locality in 1810. He hunted, 
fished, made shoes, and farmed. Every body liked 



228 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

him for his good qualities. He was the father of 
James and William Bartram, two men of promi- 
nence in the Lower Sandy Valley. 

James Bartram was no ordinary man. He strug- 
gled along, as most boys were compelled to do in 
the rugged country Avhere he lived ; but, by industry 
and perseverance, he rose to be a large merchant 
and timber-dealer. He had a good business educa- 
tion, picked up as he could spare a little time from 
pressing work. 

When the Civil War set in, James Bartram 
owned the great farm at the Falls of Tug, where 
he also had a store, and was largely engaged in trade. 
He had, at the time, valuable property in Catletts- 
burg. He lost heavily by the war. He moved to 
Catlettsburg, and for awhile was engaged in buying 
horses for the government. 

At the close of the war he went back into the 
timber business and merchandising. Although 
doing a large business, he was unsuccessful. He lost 
most of his property, and kept hotel for a living 
until he died in 1883. 

His son William was a captain in the 14th Ken- 
tucky Infantry, Union army. He is now a promi- 
nent citizen at the Falls of Tug. He married a 
daughter of Judge William Ratliif. A daughter of 
his married James Peters, a bright business young 
man of Lawrence. 

Captain John A. Bartram, another son of James 
Bartram, is a noted steamboat clerk and captain at 



THE BRYANS. 229 

the Mouth of Sandy. He is a son-in-law of Abra- 
ham Cyrus. Lindsay is in business there, while 
the hotel is run by the widow and Miss Fanny, a 
very worthy daughter of James Bartram. 

William Bartram, another son of David Bartram, 
was a well-to-do farmer on Mill Creek, West Vir- 
ginia, who raised a respectable family, and died 
about 1880. David, the ancestor, died in Catletts- 
burg in 1863, at an advanced age. 

The older Bartrams were ardent Democrats ; but 
Avhen the war came on, they declared themselves for 
the Union, and since that time have been among 
the most pronounced Republicans. They are mem- 
bers or adherents of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
in religion. 

Captain John A. Bartram has been a seeker of 
public favor, and, though not successful, ran ahead 
of his ticket. 

THE BRYANS. 

John and Zeffie Beyan, two brothers, whose 
ancestors were English, settling in Vermont, but 
subsequently moving to Virginia, came down the 
Ohio in 1798, and in 1800 settled on the Blaine 
Bottoms, near Rove Creek, Lawrence County. John 
married Sarah Lakin, widow of James Lakin, and 
daughter of Samuel White. 

The Bryans were cousins of the wife of Daniel 
Boone, and were relatives of the Bryans at Bryan^s 
Station. John Bryan was one of the first to throw 



230 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

away his hand-mill and take his corn to the Falls 
of Blaine, to the water-mill there. While catching 
fish with a gig, just below the falls, he was attacked 
by a panther, which he wounded with the gig, and 
afterwards killed with his hunter's knife. His 
granddaughter, now living, has a little spinning- 
wheel which was made in 1806. It is still in good 
running order. The wheel has a scar or scratch 
on it made by a mad dog, while the mother of Mrs. 
Sloan was spinning. Her father killed the dog with 
a stick. 

The old man, when quite one hundred years old, 
cut, split, and laid up one hundred rails in a day. 
In 1799, while in a hunter's camp on the Kanawha, 
he cut on a rock the date of his birth, which made 
him, in 1867, when he died, one hundred and fif- 
teen years old. He is buried at Cummins Chapel 
grave-yard, near where he lived after coming to the 
Sandy. 

Of Zeffie we hear but little; but he, too, must 
have been a man of energy, as we find his son, 
Recy Bryan, now an aged man, one of the wealthy 
men of Boyd County. 



THE BROWNS, OF BOYD. 

Richard Brown, the founder of the family in 
the Sandy Valley, came in an early day from East- 
ern Virginia, and settled near Guyandotte, Va. 
About 1836 he moved to Lawrence County, Ky., 



THE BROWNS, OF BOYD. 231 

and settled on the farm at the junction of the 
Sandy with the Tug. He raised a large family, 
mostly daughters, who were destined to fill con- 
spicuous places in life, as the wives of noted men. 
His daughter Matilda became the wife of Judge 
James M. Rice. Three of the daughters are now 
widows, living in Catlettsburg, highly esteemed by 
all who know them. 

George N. Brown, a son, has for thirty years 
been one of the foremost men in the law and busi- 
ness in the valley. He was educated at Augusta 
College. He commenced his career in Pike County, 
where he filled several official positions. He mar- 
ried a lady who was daughter of Thomas Cecil and 
granddaughter of Kinzy B. Cecil. She died, leav- 
ing a son and three daughters, and he married, for 
his second wife, a Miss Poage, daughter of William 
Poage, a distinguished early settler near Ashland, 
Ky. William Poage's wife was a Miss Van Horn, a 
niece of John Van Horn and Mrs. Frederick 
Moore. The issue from that union all became dis- 
tinguished people. 

Mr. BroAvn moved to Catlettsburg in 1860, where 
he has ever since lived. He has been one of the 
leading practitioners at the bar ever since, save the 
six years he served as circuit judge of his district. 
He was elected judge in 1880, defeating John M. 
Burns, Avho in turn defeated him for the same office 
in 1886. 

Judge Brown had made some enemies in his 



232 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

action in the Ashland horror case, though all 
believed he acted from a sense of duty. He also 
had, from some cause, raised up a large crop of per- 
sonal enemies while judge, who determined on his 
defeat at all hazards when he should run again, 
which was made good by the election of his com- 
petitor, Burns, by an immense majority. Leaving 
Judge Brown's defeat in abeyance, it is hard to find 
a man to say that he did not make an able and 
upright judge. 

Judge Brown appears unsoured by the sting of 
defeat, and many think he will come to the front 
again. He is a man of wealth, owning a great 
many houses and lots in Catlettsburg and a greater 
number of farms in the country. 

He has a son, Thomas R. Brown, who was edu- 
cated at the University of Virginia, and is now one 
of the leading members of the Catlettsburg bar. 
He is a leading member of the Presbyterian Church, 
and is the champion of temperance and good pub- 
lic, as well as private, morals. A sister became the 
wife of Alexander L. Martin, of Prestonburg, both 
now dead, while another married the Pev. Dr. Mc- 
Clintock, an eminent Presbyterian divine, who has 
since died. 

The Browns were once Whigs, but on the break- 
ing out of the Know-Nothing craze in 1854, they 
joined the Democratic party, and have been its 
strongest pillars. 



THE BROWNS, OF JOHNSON. 233 

THE BROWNS, OF JOHNSON. 

This family is of EngHsh origin. Their early 
ancestors came to America before the Revolution, 
and settled on the north branch of the Potomac. 
As early as 1789, Nathaniel and Thomas C. Brown 
moved to Kentucky and settled in Fleming County, 
but soon moved to the Sandy Valley, settling on 
the river, nearly opposite Paint Creek. A daughter 
of Nathaniel married Samuel Auxier, the grand- 
father of Major J. B. Auxier, thus connecting the 
two houses, by a matrimonial alliance, at an early 
day in the history of Sandy Valley. 

Of Nathaniel we hear but little after his coming 
to the valley. His brother, Thomas C. Brown, 
became the founder of a house noted in the annals 
of Big Sandy. Thomas had a son named Francis 
Asbury Brown, who became the father of Hon. W. 
A¥. Brown, Judge Thomas Brown, Judge Nathan 
Brown, and others. Wallace W. Brown is a law- 
yer of Paintsville, but, being engaged in merchan- 
dising and general trading, gives but little attention 
now to the practice of law. He is a brainy man 
and well read, not only in law, his chosen profes- 
sion, but in science and general literature. He is 
a Democrat of the strictest sect, but is a genial 
friend and neighbor. Mr. Brown has often been 
called upon to fill offices of great responsibility, 
among these the offices of State senator, and mem- 
ber of the Lower House. He has served his 

20 



2eS4 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

county as prosecuting attorney, and occupied other 
official positions of trust and honor, all of which 
he filled with fidelity and good judgment. His 
brother Thomas was a lawyer, also, of the Paints- 
ville bar. He served his county four years as 
judge, and on the expulsion of John M. Elliott 
from his seat in the Lower House of the State 
Legislature in the beginning of the Civil War, he 
was elected, from Johnson and Floyd, to fill the 
vacant seat. 

At the time Brow^n took his seat in the Lower 
House, the great question under discussion in the 
Legislature was whether the State should remain in 
the Union or join the Confederate Government. 
Mr. Brown made a speech in favor of the Old 
Government and the Old Flag that was remarka- 
ble for brilliancy as well as sound logic. It carried 
all doubters with him, and settled the question for 
all time. The potency of Mr. Brow^n's speech was 
more apparent from the fact that he had always 
been a Democrat. After Avards he ran for Congress, 
but was not successful. Shortly after the close of 
the war he moved to the North-west, but soon 
returned, and quietly settled down at Paintsville, 
where he lived until about 1884, when he moved 
with his family to Utah, where he now lives. 

The Browns were, from their first ancestors, 
Methodists, and Thomas was for a great many 
years a preacher in the Methodist Church ; yet, in 
his old age, he swerved from his ancient faith, and 



WILLIAM AND FEED. BRUNS. 235 

joined the Latter-day Saints, or Mormons. He is 
an erratic but brilliant man. 

Nathan, another son of Francis Asbury Brown, 
was a lawyer. He, too, like Thomas, served a term 
as judge of his county, and was a local preacher in 
the Methodist Church. Like the Browns of John- 
son, he was a brainy man. He died in 1884, leav- 
ing a family of children. William and other sons 
were farmers and store-keepers. 

News has come back from Utah that Thomas 
Brown renounced Mormonism as soon as he 
reached Utah. 



WILLIAM AND FRED. BRUNS. 

The two Bruns brothers are old settlers at the 
Mouth. The younger of the two, William, is en- 
gaged in the fancy goods business, while Frederick, 
the elder, is a shoe manufacturer and dealer. Fred- 
erick's family are mostly sons. One of them is a 
bright young doctor. The others are engaged in 
the shoe-trade. William's children of the elder set 
are girls, who show great skill in all kinds of bric- 
a-brac work done by ladies. 

The heads of both families, as well as most of 
the children, are members and workers in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. They are all Republicans 
and prohibitionists. The two brothers are of the 
Teuton race, and came from Prussia. 



236 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

DANIEL BLOOMER 

Married a daughter of Edmund Price, who was 
one of the first settlers in the valley. Mr. Bloomer 
lived in the Kentucky Bottom, opposite Bloomer^s 
Bar, which took its name from him. He was owner 
or part owner of the salt-works on Taber^s Creek. 
He came there before the War of 1812. 

The Bloomer name has disappeared from this 
region, although Bloomer blood courses through the 
veins of many of the best people in Eastern Ken- 
tucky. Washington Gardner's wife was Daniel 
Bloomer\s daughter, and the Gardners are among 
the foremost people in Eastern Kentucky. 



JAMES McSORLY, 

John's father, came to the salt-works when he was 
a young man, and clerked for the company. He 
married a sister of Daniel Bloomer's wife. Mr. 
McSorly was a good scholar, and after the works 
went down engaged in school-teaching, which he 
followed until he died in 1875. 



THE McCALLS. 

We first hear of the father of Hon. R. B. Mc- 
Call at the Taber's Creek Salt-works in 1825. He 
married a Miss Hard wick, whose father was one of 
the principal men there. He had sons and daugh- 



THE BE VINS FAMIL Y. 237 

ters. Of the latter, Mrs. Hugh Honaker is one, 
living at Catlettsburg. 

ROBERT B. McCALL, 

A PEOMINENT citizen of Catlettsburg, is a son, who 
has by energy and perseverance attained to emi- 
nence. He was a captain during the war in the 
5th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, where he 
rendered distinguished service in putting down the 
Rebellion. Since, and even before the War, he has 
filled nearly continuously, either the office of town 
marshal or police judge of Catlettsburg. ^ The man 
has not yet appeared who could beat him in the 
race, so long as he chooses to contest for the place. 
He has accumulated a handsome property, and is a 
warm-hearted man, and personally very popular. 
He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow. He belongs 
to no Church, but is friendly to all. Before the 
war he was a Whig, but since then has acted with 
the Democrats. Many Republicans always vote for 
him when a candidate. He is about fifty-six years 
old, is married, and has a wife and two children. 

THE BEVINS FAMILY. 
Joseph Bevins was born in Ireland, and came 
to America and settled in Virginia before the War 
of the Revolution. He was a patriot. In 1812 he 
came to Pike County, then Floyd, where he lived 
until his death, which occurred in 1824. He left 
sons and daughters behind him. 



238 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Jolin married a 'daughter of William Justice, 
who came with his family from Pittsylvania County, 
Virginia, to the Sandy Valley in 1787, and settled 
on the lands ever since known as the Justice Bot- 
tom, ten miles above Pikeville. 

The Justices were, in their earliest days on the 
Sandy, large slave-owners, and had an eye single to 
the importance of owning, not only negro slaves, 
but a great deal of land also. The Justices of the 
valley are still large owners of land, and many ot 
them leading citizens in the community. The 
descendants of William Justice and wife. Miss 
Bevins before her marriage, are found in every 
county bordering on the Sandy Eiver. 

John Bevins, Joseph^s son, died in 1867, and 
John's son, James, who was the father of J. M. 
Bevins, died in 1864. J. M. Bevins is among the 
prominent business men of the valley. The Bevins 
family is not only among the ancient houses of the 
valley, but is one possessing intelligence and respec- 
tability, and keep clean the escutcheon of the ancient 
Bevinses of the Green Isle. 



THE ANDREWS FAMILY. 

This family came to the Mouth of Sandy, from 
Illinois^ at the laying out of Catlettsburg. The 
younger brother, N. P. Andrews, was married be- 
fore coming to Sandy. G. W. Andrews married 
the eldest daughter of George K. Burgess. They 



EEV. J. F. MEDLEY. 239 

were always quiet business men and good citizens. 
N. P. Andrews is in mercantile business with 
his son-in-law, C. W. Sheritt. N. P. Andrews is a 
Presbyterian in religion, and a Republican in poli- 
tics. Dr. W. A. Patton, of the drug-house of 
Patton Bros., married a daughter of Mr. Andrews. 
His only son, Ralph, is engaged in railroading. 

G. W. Andrews and his only son. Watt, are 
leading dry-goods dealers. Watt married a Miss 
Prichard, daughter of A. J. Prichard and grand- 
daughter of George Burgess, of Lawrence County. 

In politics they are Republicans and in religion 
hold to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



REV. J. F. MEDLEY, 

The eccentric but talented preacher of the Meth- 
odist Church, South, for forty years traveling up 
and down the valley, is one of the most noted men 
of Sandy. His first circuit was the Harlan Mis- 
sion. For his yearly salary a liberal-hearted stew- 
ard gave him a pair of new yarn socks, while an 
outsider helped the young preacher along by shoe- 
ing his horse " all round. ^' But he was the recipi- 
ent of still greater favors while on that noble Mis- 
sion. A very liberal old bachelor, who by thrift 
had accumulated much of this world's wealth, by 
some mishap had failed to contribute of his abun- 
dance to the parson's support. As Mr. Medley 
hurrying off to Conference rode by a farm-house, 



240 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

at whicli the old bachelor wat staying, the latter 
spied his preacher friend, and sallied out to pay his 
quarterage. The preacher was out of sight before 
the man of means had time to pass into the road ; 
but, being both liberal and conscientious, he started 
on to overtake the '^ man of the cloth,'' and though 
fleet of foot, he passed several miles over hill and dale 
before he overtook the fleeing parson. Yelling at 
every jump he made, he at last brought the 
preacher to a stand, who Avaited impatiently for the 
caller to catch up. At length the parson and his 
parishioner were face to face, when the strings of a 
well-tied purse were loosened, and the brother, with 
what was to him a great stretch of liberality, took 
out a bright silver quarter, saying to the preacher 
as he passed him the money, that others might do 
as they pleased, but he never would let his preacher 
leave the circuit without contributing of his means 
to his support. Mr. Medley was soon after sent to 
the Louisa work, where he married a daughter of 
Mrs. Jones, who was the w^idow of Daniel Jones, 
whose name is so often mentioned in this book. 
He lives at Catlettsburg, though often serving 
districts, circuits, and stations. He has been a 
preacher, and a worker too, in the Sandy Valley 
for forty years. He is a man of great physical en- 
durance, and as a builder will do more work than 
men of thirty, and as good. He has always taken 
a deep interest in developing the moral, material, 
and educational interest of the Sandy Valley. He 



THE CEUM FAMILY. 



241 



has two daughters, both married, who live in Cat- 
lettsburg. Their husbands are engaged in contract- 
ing and building. 

THE CRUM FAMILY. 
Adam Crum and wife came from Bedford County, 
Ya., in 1806, and settled on Rock Castle, in what 
is now Martin County, Ky. From this pair have 
descended all the 
Crums of Martin, 
Lawrence, and 
Johnson Counties, 
Ky., and Wayne 
County, West Ya. 
The family has 
been noted for its 
industry and for 
the good morality 
maintained by its 
members. They 
are mostly farm- 
ers, yet many have 
been, and some 
are now, merchants and traders. Two of the 
grandsons, William and Nathan, were very ex- 
tensive merchants at Warfield. Nathan is a store- 
keeper at Eden, Ky. William, whose portrait is given, 
is an extensive dealer in timber and lumber, Avhose 
operations extend from the Sandy River to Brooklyn, 
N. Y. He spends considerable time in the latter 

21 




WILLIAM CRUM. 



242 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

place, giving his personal attention to the sale of 
his lumber. William Crum and his brother Nathan 
were left orphans in childhood, but struggled, like 
brave boys as they were, to better their worldly 
condition, going away from home to a good school 
that they might be qualified to intelligently con- 
duct business in after life. They both taught 
school and saved a little money to commence busi- 
ness with. Success has smiled upon them. They 
have a brother who is a lawyer. 

The Crums are a Baptist family, and several 
preachers have gone out to bless the world. They 
were originally Democrats, but were loyal to the 
Government during the war, and since that time 
have nearly all acted with the Republican pajrty. 



THE LOCKWOOD FAMILY. 

About 1770, when the people of the Colonies 
were being stirred by the encroachments of the 
British Crown upon their liberties, a little cabin was 
situated on the hill-side of the land skirting the 

Susquehanna in County, Pennsylvania. 

The inmates of this plain little home bore the 
name of Lockwood. A sweet little new-born babe 
brings joy to all households, be the inmates rich or 
poor, but the cup of joy at this time, in this ro- 
mantic homestead, ran full to overflowing; for in- 
stead of one little stranger to gladden the hearts of the 
young father and mother, God sent triplets ; and as 



THE LOCK WOOD FAMILY. 243 

the Lockwoods were Christian people, they felt that 
the three little darlings were his good gift to them, 
and gave no heed to meddlesome young uncles or 
aunts, who suggested many odd names to be given 
the little triplets. Reverently the father named 
them, in their order of seeing the light of day, 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, after the three illus- 
trious patriarchs of Bible history. The mother 
struggled along, and reared the children in the 
principles of virtue and truth, and, on the three 
boys coming to young manhood, the neighbors all 
said that the Lockwood boys were models to be 
followed by old and young. 

Jacob, the younger, like his namesake of old, 
went away from home to better his condition ; and 
still, like Israel, the man he served, down in 
Bracken County, Kentucky, had many daughters; 
but one of them in particular caused the young 
man's heart to throb whenever she appeared in his 
presence. It was an aifair of love, and soon Sarah 
White, daughter of David White, became Mrs. 
Jacob Lockwood, wife of Jacob Lockwood. From 
this honored pair have descended the family of 
Lockwoods, so well and favorably known in the 
Lower Sandy Valley. David White, his father-in- 
law, as is stated elsewhere, having become the sole 
owner of all the land on the Sandy River, from 
Campbell's Branch, three miles above the Mouth, to 
the mouth of Blaine, was able to give all of his 
sons and sons-in-law a large farm, and then have 



244 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



enough left to make almost a Texas ranch. Jacob 
Lockwood aoain showed a resemblance to Jacob of 
old, by selecting the best land for his portion of 
the vast domain, and accordingly settled on that 
part now owned by his grandson, John Lockwood, 
of Lockwood Station, on the Chatterawha Railroad, 
opposite Virginia White's Creek, said by many to 
be the best and most valuable farm on the Big 

Sandy River. 
Jacob Lockwood 
lived to a good 
old age, as did 
also his wife. 
They left many 
descendants, who 
have borne good 
names in the 
c o m m u n i t y 
where they were 
' born and raised. 

Eesidenceof John Lockwood, Staley.Kj'. JaCob LoclvWOod 

opened his doors to the preachers of the Gospel 
who at an early day traveled up and down the val- 
ley, warning sinners to flee the wrath to come. 
Mr. Lockwood and wife were Methodists, and their 
descendants still hold to that faith. Party politics 
never gave them much trouble ; but when the Civil 
War came on they were found on the side of the 
Union. 

John Lockwood, grandson of Jacob Lockwood, 




THE McCL URE FAMIL Y. 245 

married a daughter of the well and favorably 
known John Van Horn, who was brother-in-law of 
Frederick Moore. Mr. Lockw^ood has one of the 
most complete farm-houses in the Sandy Valley, fur- 
nished in a style of exquisite taste, and presided 
over by his wife, a lady of sense and refinement, 
who dispenses her hospitality with a grace and 
dignity almost queenly. They have but one child, 
a son, now eleven years old, whose expectancy of 
material wealth outranks that of most boys in the 
valley. 

THE McCLURE FAMILY. 

William McClure, one of the old settlers of 
what is now Lawrence County, came from Giles 
County, Virginia, where he married Lucretia Chap- 
man, and settled on the Sandy, about five miles 
above the Forks, where, or near where, he con- 
tinued to reside until his death in 1861. His faith- 
ful wife died the same year. From this pair have 
descended a large family of children, grandchil- 
dren, and great-grandchildren. 

Among the first and second generations, from 
William McClure and wife, are found some of the 
prominent people of the valley. Some are well-to- 
do farmers, while others are teachers and profes- 
sional men and women. One grandson is a noted 
doctor in the interior of Kentucky ; another a high- 
school teacher; another a professor in a deaf and 
dumb asylum ; and still another is at the head of 



246 THE. BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

the educational department of his native county. 
A granddaughter was, for several years, a teacher 
in a noted college of the State. 

The McClure family has always maintained a 
respectable standing among the people of Lawrence 
and the adjoining country. They were Methodists 
from the beginning, and most of them are now in 
communion with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
They are Republicans in politics; and have con- 
tributed to the material, moral, and intellectual 
wealth of the valley. 



THE WELLMANS. 

Bennett Wellman was the founder of the 
Wellman family of the Sandy Valley. He settled 
near Cassville, Ya., about 1792. His descendants 
are now a great host in numbers. He ranked as 
one of the greatest huntsmen of his day. The 
Wellmans always liked the woods, and the liking 
caused them to procure large boundaries of land. 
Many of the family have risen to note in the busi- 
ness and official world. 

Samuel Wellman, of Wayne County, West Vir- 
ginia, who died in Louisa about 1870, was a man 
of wealth, and had filled many official positions of 
trust and honor. He was the father-in-law of 
Judge M. J. Ferguson. 

Jerry Wellman, a brother of Samuel, was for 
many years one of Wayne County's most honored 



THE HARKINS FAMILY. 247 

citizens. He filled the office of sheriff of his county, 
and was a representative in the House of Delegates, 
at Richmond. He moved to Catlettsburg in 1857, 
occupying a high place there as a merchant. He 
filled several offices in the town and county with 
great faithfulness. He was noted as a great advo- 
cate and friend of common schools and internal 
improvements, and gave liberally of his means to 
encourage manufacturing enterprises in town, 
though ever so humble. He was a great lover of 
Odd Fellowship, to which order he belonged. He 
died in about 1872. 

Fred. Wellman, son of James Wellman, who is 
a nephew of Samuel and Jerry Wellman, is the 
chemist in the drug-house of Patton Bros. 



THE HARKINS FAMILY, OF PRESTONBURG. 

Hugh Harkins, the father of John Harkins, 
and grandfather of Walter S. Harkins, came of old 
Pennsylvania stock, emigrating from that State and 
settling in Prestonburg some time in the thirties. 
He received a good English education in his youth, 
and learned the saddlery trade ; but having an apt- 
itude for the legal profession, he studied law, and 
became a practitioner at the Prestonburg bar during 
life. He worked more or less at his trade, however, 
during his long residence in Prestonburg. Mr. 
Harkins was a man of refinement and considerable 
reading, and was much respected for his many good 



248 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



qualities as neighbor, business man, and citizen. In 
1869 he died, leaving a son, who, although merely 
having reached manhood, had already given promise 
of the brilliant future which was so soon to crown 
his life. 

John Harkins, the son, was fairly well educated, 

and being espe- 
c i ally endowed 
with the mental 
qualifications 
requisite to be- 
come a good law- 
yer, took high 
rank as an attor- 
ney almost im- 
mediately on his 
entrance to the 
bar, which oc- 
curred in 1860. 
From that time 
until the com- 
mencement of the 
fatal sickness which ended his short but busy and 
useful life, he constantly rose in the estimation of 
the people as one of the brilliant lawyers of the 
valley, Prestonburg contributing her full share. 
Had Mr. Harkins lived he would no doubt have 
reached as high and honorable distinction in polit- 
ical preferment as he attained as a pleader at the 
bar. Although in possession of a splendid physique 




JOHN HARKINS. 



THE HAEKINS FAMILY. 



249 



and a strong constitution, insidious disease attacked 
the citadel of life ; but, thinking the enemy expelled, 
he left his home in Prestonburg and went to Pike- 
ville, where the attack was renewed, terminating in 
his death August 25, 1871. His unexpected death 
created a sensation in the valley ; for no man had 
warmer and truer friends than John Harkins, the 
genial man and 
brilliant lawyer. 
He was unmar- 
ried, but was be- 
trothed to a high- 
ly respected and 
worthy young 
lady, who to this 
day holds herself 
bound in the 
silken cords of 
undying love by 
refusing the hand 
and heart of all 
other suitors. In 
politics Mr. Harkins w^as an ardent Republican. 
The portrait we give of Mr. Harkins is a very good 
one, and will be readily recognized by his friends. 
Walter S. Harkins, whose likeness is found in 
this connection, is a grandson of Hugh Harkins 
and a nephew of John Harkins, who, following the 
bent of his mind as inherited from his grandfather 
and uncle, before he had passed the years of child- 




WALTER S. HARKINS. 



250 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



hood, resolved to become a lawyer. And to this 
end he applied himself in his studies, whilst in and 
out of school, with such diligence that, on reaching 
manhood, he was regarded as one of the best edu- 
cated young men in his town. The good training 
he had undergone enabled him to make rapid strides 
in the study of the law, resolving at the start to 
use all honorable means to climb to the highest 

position attaina- 
ble as a lawyer 
in the Sandy Val- 
ley, noted for the 
number of its 
able attorneys. 
Walter S. Har- 
kins was admit- 
ted to the bar in 
1877, and at once 
entered upon a 

Law Office, Walter S. Harkins, Prestonburg, Ky. lucrative practicC 

in his native town. Mr. Harkins has not only 
proved himself to be a good lawyer, but is equally 
at home as a correct business man. The cut of his 
office, perhaps the most complete as well as impos- 
ing in the valley, proves his good taste and judg- 
ment in architectural design ; and its internal 
arrangements testify to the great order governing 
him, not only in his routine business, but in the 
methodical manner of conducting his law practice. 
Mr. Harkins married a daughter of the late Hon. 




WILLI A M P OA GE \S FAMIL Y. 251 

Joseph M. Davidson, who was one of the foremost 
men of his county. This alliance connects Mr. 
Harkins with many of the most ancient and honor- 
able families of North-eastern Kentucky. In politics 
Mr. Harkins is a Democrat, and a Methodist in his 
religious views. 

WILLIAM POAGE'S FAMILY. 

William Poage, of the prominent family 
bearing that name, living in Northern Kentucky 
and Southern Ohio, married a sister of John Van 
Horn and Mrs. Frederick Moore. This was soon 
after the Van Horns and Moores settled on the 
Sandy River. Mr. and Mrs. Poage, while not set- 
tling immediately in the valley, located less than 
four miles below the Mouth of the Sandy, on the 
Ohio River. Their children, however, or at least 
four of them — two sons and two daughters — have, 
since coming to manhood and womanhood, occupied 
conspicuous places in the affairs of Sandy. Their 
older son, George Bernard Poage, for many years 
prior to 1861, was one of the most noted and pop- 
ular preachers in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, within the bounds of the Western Virginia 
Conference of that Church. He was for a time the 
clerk of the courts of Lawrence County. In 1862 
he moved to Bracken County, and soon after was 
elected clerk of the courts there, and has filled the 
same office ever since. Meantime he has continued 
to preach as a local minister. Dora Poage, his 



252 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



brother, soon afterwards moved to Bracken County, 
also, where he married a Miss Holton, who, as well 
as her numerous sisters, is celebrated for personal 
beauty. He is a tobacco-planter. John T. Sullivan, 
a wealthy Covington tobacco-dealer, married a 
daughter of William Poage and wife. The wife of 
Hon. George N. Brown is another daughter, and 
so is also the wife of Judge John M. Rice, of 
Louisa. 



FELIX A. BARBEE 

Is a son of the Rev. J. R. Barbee, known as the 

^^ Old War-horse '^ 
of Baptist minis- 
ters in Kentucky. 
He was born and 
raised in Cynthi- 
ana, Ky., his birth 
occurring in 1855. 
Since 1866 he has 
constantly been 
engaged in the 
printing business, 
learning his trade 
in the office of the 
Cynthiana Demo- 
crat, and working 
there without a 
break from 1866 until 1883, when he came to Cat- 
lettsburg and was made foreman in the office of the 




FELIX A. BARBEE. 



THE HENDERSON FAMILY, 253 

DemoG7'at, filling the place with credit to himself 
and satisfaction to the owner of the paper. 

In 1885 he commenced, in conjunction wdth 
Joseph J. Emerick, the publication of the Catletts- 
burg Leader, but has for some time been sole pro- 
prietor. He is a sound Democrat, and a member of 
the Baptist Church. His paper has a fine local 
patronage. He is a genial, popular man, and a 
leading Odd Fellow. His portrait is placed in the 
book, to represent the journalists of the valley, who, 
as a class, have done, and are still doing, much to 
develop the material, intellectual, and moral wealth 
of the Sandy country. 



THE HENDERSON FAMILY. 

Before Catlettsburg had become a town, a 
noble matron, with seven bright daughters and two 
sons, appeared at the Mouth, when the houses round 
about were few and far between. The name of the 
mother was Henderson. Duncan Henderson, her 
husband, had fallen into decay and desuetude, and 
left the mother to care for and educate the children. 
She was able to bear the burden. How grandly she 
succeeded the reader must judge when the narrative 
is completed. Through Mrs. Henderson's veins 
coursed the blue blood of the Churches, a talented 
family, which, by the well-developed intellect of its 
members, has made the history of New York State 



254 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

more renowned than it would have been had the 
Church family not lived within its borders. Eliza- 
beth, Mrs. Henderson's second daughter, married 
Levi J. Hampton, who, as has already been said, 
was of an ancient Sandy house. Mr. Hampton was 
not only in those days a man of means and business 
thrift, but he was equally conspicuous for his benev- 
olent actions, and, as the son-in-law of Mrs. Hen- 
derson, helped substantially in bearing her material 
burdens. But, after all, Mrs. Henderson depended 
on her own efforts to rear and educate her loving off- 
spring. She was endowed with a strong mind, a firm 
will, industrious hands, and a heart consecrated to God 
by faith in the Redeemer's blood. Armed with these 
strong weapons, she succeeded. Her daughters, on 
coming to womanhood, were better trained and ed- 
ucated than were many of the daughters of the 
more favored in worldly wealth. The two sons re- 
ceived not only a good education, but to that was 
supplemented a business training. 

This worthy mother may have sown some seed 
in tears, but long before old age overtook her on 
life's journey she gathered in the sheaves. All of 
her daughters married happily and well. Two 
of them married noted steamboat owners — Cap- 
tains Sharp and Nelson. One married D. W. 
Eba, the long-time merchant and projector, 
builder, and owner of the ^^ Alger House;" 
while another is the wife of C. S. Ulen, a member 
of an old respected family and a leading business 



THE HENDERSON FA MIL Y. 255 

man of Catlettsburg. Mrs. Geiger, whose husband 
is a prominent merchant, farmer, and capitalist of 
Ashland, is one of her honored daughters; while 
the youngest is the wife of the graceful W. H. H. 
Eba, a prominent citizen of Ashland. Such a par- 
allel of matrimonial success would be hard to find. 

Major John Henderson, the elder of the two 
sons, made a fine record in the war as an officer in 
the Union army, and is now engaged in business 
in West Virginia. He is married. Thomas E. 
Henderson, the younger, lives in Ashland, where 
he does business. He is also married, and has a 
smart wife and bright children. All of the daugh- 
ters and both of the sons of Mrs. Henderson are 
living, except Mrs. Levi J. Hampton. 

Mrs. Henderson in early life was a Presbyterian, 
but became a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, in which communion she died, at Catletts- 
burg, in about 1873. Her daughters and sons- 
in-law are Christians, and members of some one of 
the leading branches of the Church of God. Mrs. 
Hampton was a Presbyterian, as is also Mrs. Ulen ; 
while Mrs. Sharp, Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. D. W. and 
W. H. H. Eba are members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. Mrs. D. D. Geiger and her brother, 
Thomas E., are members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, South. All are prominent Christian 
workers. 

What a wonderfully successful life was that of 
Mrs. Henderson ! 



256 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

THE PELPHREYS 

Came from Virginia in 1804, and settled in John- 
son County, where many of the descendants now 
live. One of the old stock, James Pelphrey, has 
been for fifty years a Baptist preacher. Other 
members of the family have come to the front as 
office-bearers and business men. They are Baptists, 
and most of them are Democrats. 



DAVID MORGAN FAMILY. 

David Morgan married a daughter of Judge 
Graham, and settled on the left-hand fork of Beaver, 
in Floyd County, in 1799, between Christmas and 
New- Year. He was not only a hardy and adven- 
turous man, but was one of fine sense and acquire- 
ments. His family married into the best families 
of the country, and from the Morgans are descended 
many of the noted people of the Sandy Valley. 
General Alexander Lackey was Morgan's son-in-law. 



ANDREWS FAMILY. 

G. W. and N. P. Andrews, two brothers, came 
to Catlettsburg in 1851. They were born and 
raised at Portsmouth, Ohio, but went to Jerseyyille, 
Illinois, where they were engaged in the business 
of general store-keeping and lumber-dealing for sev- 
eral years ; but the country there being unhealthy. 



ANDREWS FAMILY. 257 

they concluded to sell out and try the pure air and 
sparkling waters of ^ more hilly region than the 
slashes of the low Mississippi bottoms. Arriving 
at Catlettsburg before any houses worth naming 
were erected on Center Street, they procured a lease 
of the ground on the corner of Division and Center 
Streets, where the National Bank now stands, put 
up a one-story frame building, and commenced the 
business of dry-goods merchants, which has been 
continued uninterruptedly to the present time, no 
change in the style of the firm occurring until 1877, 
when the younger brother, N. P., retired, leaving 
George W. in the old stand on the corner of Divis- 
ion and Front Sreets, who addmitted his son into 
partnership with him, who now conducts the busi- 
ness under the firm name of G. W. Andrews & Son. 
The firm of G. and N. Andrews remained for a 
year or two at the corner of Division and Center 
Streets, bought the lot now the property of G. W. 
Andrews & Son, and erected, in 1854, a commodi- 
ous three-story brick store-house, in which, from 
that time to the day of the firm's dissolution, they 
carried on a large general mercantile business. N. 
P. Andrews, on withdrawing from the firm of G. 
and N. Andrews, built a nice two-story brick build- 
ing on Division Street, where he carried on a large 
dry-goods and furniture business, until, like nearly 
all other business men, he was burned out in the 
great fire of 1878 ; after which he re-built and re- 
sumed business, but was again burned out in the 

22 



258 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

disastrous fire of August, 1884. He again re-built 
a much better store-house than any that had pre- 
ceded it, but leased it to William Nickels & Son, 
Avho use it as a clothing-store, Mr. Andrews retir- 
ing from mercantile life. He held the office of 
treasurer of Boyd County, a position of great trust 
and responsibility, and is also engaged in the insur- 
ance business. 

Mr. N. P. Andrews has always stood high in 
the community as a man of strict integrity and busi- 
ness honor, and has often been called to fill places 
of great trust by the town and county authorities, 
although he differed from them in political matters. 
The people of Catlettsburg are indebted to N. P. 
Andrews for the uniform system of sidewalks that 
line the streets of the town, and for the general 
leveling of the lots in the place. Had he not per- 
sisted in carrying out the plan laid down by the 
board of which he was chairman, Catlettsburg to- 
day would look hideous by the pavements varying 
in width from three to twelve feet, instead of the 
uniform gauge of eight feet as now. Mr. Andrews 
always took a lively interest in the material, educa- 
tional, and moral developement of the place in 
which he had so early in its history cast his lot. 

Mr. Andrews was married when he came to the 
Mouth. His wife, although an invalid most of the 
time since, has had such determination and courage 
as to direct well her household, and has by no means 
failed to give to society the benefit of her sunshiny 



ANDREWS FAMILY. 259 

nature, carrying into the social circle the most refin- 
ing influences. They have three children living, 
two daughters and one son. The elder daughter is 
the wife of W. A. Patton, the head of the noted 
wholesale drug establishment of Patton Brothers. 
The youngest is the wife of C. W. Sherritt, the 
ex-popular county clerk of Boyd County. The son, 
Ralph H. Andrews, is married, and is engaged in 
railroading. 

Mr. Andrews and family are working members 
in the Presbyterian Church. In politics Mr. An- 
drews is a Republican. He owns and lives in a 
fine, modern-built brick house, corner of Main and 
Broadway. 

On returning to George W. Andrews, we find 
him and his son, Wat, carrying on a large Avhole- 
sale and retail dry-goods business. Mr. G. W. 
Andrews married the oldest daughter of Esquire 
George R. Burgess, of Boyd County. To this mar- 
riage have been born four children, one son and three 
daughters. The oldest daughter, Lizzie, married 
Alberto Wolf, a prominent wholesale stove and tin- 
ware merchant of Catlettsburg. The other daugh- 
ters are single. Wat, the son, married a prominent 
young lady of Louisa. Mrs. Andrews for many 
years has had the misfortune of being nearly blind, 
which has deprived her of the pleasure of mingling 
to any great extent in society ; yet, with all her dis- 
advantages, she has filled well her part as wife, 
mother, and neighbor. 



260 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Mr. and Mrs. Andrews belong to no Church; 
but the children are connected with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and all the family are liberal 
contributors to that denomination. In politics, like 
his brother, Mr. Andrews is a Republican. He 
owns a fine place just above the corporation line, 
where he resides. 



Following close upon the arrival of Dr. Kin- 
caid at the mouth of Sandy came Captain Wash- 
ington Honshell, James McCoy, Thomas Cline- 
felter, A. C. Hailey, William A. Foster, Casper 
Kastner, L. D. Walton, James R. Ford, Hugh 
Honaker, R. B. McCall, K. N. Harris, George W. 
Andrews, N. P. Andrews — most of whom are 
still prominent in the history of Catlettsburg. 
There are no better means of information as to the 
history of these early settlers than their deeds and 
acts, known to all good Sandians. 

Captain Honshell is an Ohio man. He married 
near Burlington, Ohio, and soon after moved to 
Catlettsburg, purchasing the lot on the south-west 
corner of Main and Broadway Streets, and erecting 
a neat and comfortable frame cottage there, where he 
continued to reside until 1863, when he bought the 
beautiful and substantial Geiger residence, which he 
has since greatly modified and improved, where he 
now resides. Captain Honshell long ago came to 
the front as one of the foremost steamboat command- 
ers and owners on the Ohio River, and by great 



CAPTAIN HONSHELL. 261 

industry and perseverance, as well as following the 
true laws of business, has not only carved out for 
himself an honored name, reflecting credit on his 
business integrity and sagacity, but has, as a reward 
for a long life of labor and toil, accumulated quite 
a fortune. Captain HonshelPs career as an Ohio 
steamboat commander covers more years than the 
town of Catlettsburg. The Captain^s splendid 
packets were always the pride of Catlettsburg and 
Sandians. He made it a rule to build the best 
boats that plied upon the Ohio, to furnish them in 
the most comfortable and tasteful manner, and when 
it came to the cuisine, he had a menu prepared more 
like unto a wedding-feast than the fare of many 
first-class steamboats. To crown all, he always 
manned his boat with officers whose politeness, 
like his own, was of the most refined and gentle- 
manly type. The trips made by the Honshell line 
of steamers, twice a week for a quarter of a century, 
between Catlettsburg and Cincinnati, were so regu- 
lar, observing such close time, starting and arriving 
with the promptitude of a dial, that the ringing of 
their bell or the sound of their whistle served to 
mark the time of day and day of the week. 
Promptitude has been one secret of his success. 
Through the liberality of Captain Honshell, the 
merchants of Catlettsburg had all the advantages 
of a first-class express company. He has carried 
on his boats untold thousands of dollars, remittances 
of business men to wholesale dealers in Cincinnati 



262 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

and other towns below, without charging a cent for 
the labor and responsibility ; and so carefully were 
these treasures guarded that the author has never 
heard of a single package failing to reach its proper 
destination. 

Of course, though a very hale man, and by no 
means incapacitated to stand on the hurricane roof 
and command a boat, his great experience in steam- 
boat affairs and management called him to a more 
important, if not so active a field of usefulness. 
For quite a number of years past he has been one 
of the leading owners and managers of more than 
one important line of steamers. For some years 
his business called him to temporarily reside in 
Cincinnati, yet he never ceased to make Catletts- 
burg his real home from the time he pitched his 
tent on the ground before Fry had finished the plat. 

The captain for a year or so has grown more 
local in his movements, and is doing much to add 
to the prosperity of the town by the erection of a 
number of first-class tenement-houses; setting an 
example for some capitalists to follow, supplying 
tenants with the conveniences of a first-class home- 
stead ; proving that he believes they have some 
rights which even landlords should respect. But 
this is just like Captain Honshell. 

Captain and Mrs. Honshell are the parents of 
four children — three daughters and one son. They 
are all married. The oldest daughter is the wife 
of Millard F. Hampton ; the youngest married Mr. 



THE MURPHY FAMILY. 263 

H. F. Williamson ; and both live in their beautiful 
homes in Catlettsburg. The other daughter is the 
wife of Lindsay Kelly, a gentleman well-known 
and esteemed as a prominent business man and 
social gentleman of Ironton, Ohio. Augustus, the 
son, is also, like his sisters, happily married ; he 
lives in Cincinnati, where he holds an important 
position in the steamboating business. 

The excellent and thorough training of their 
children, both domestically and in the best schools, 
has brought back a handsome return to the par- 
ents for their trouble, by the honorable positions 
their offspring occupy in life. 

Captain HonshelPs family are active working 
members of the Presbyterian Church ; and he also 
takes a deep interest in its success, liberally con- 
tributing of his means to aid in carrying on its 
material work. The captain is a liberal Republican 
in politics, but will vote for no unfit man for office, 
whatever his political professions. 



THE MURPHY FAMILY. 

In the year 1837 the Murphy family, destined 
to fill an honorable position in society in the early 
days of Catlettsburg^s history, moved to their farm 
at Beech Grove, two miles from the Mouth of the 
Sandy, where Floyd Runyon now lives (1886). 
James K. Murphy, the husband and father, was of 
Irish lineage, while his wife, as her maiden name. 



264 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Gordon, indicates, came of Scotch or Scotch-Irish 
ancestry. Both were natives of Western Pennsyl- 
vania. Mr. Murphy in religion was a Catholic, 
while Miss Gordon was a strict Presbyterian. In 
Shippingsport, the town where she lived and was 
educated, the inhabitants were in an early day not 
only members of that influential denomination, but 
were great sticklers for implicit belief in the doc- 
trines of Calvin and his coadjutors. Miss Gordon 
became dissatisfied with the doctrine, and adopted 
the Arminian system of belief. She left the Church 
of her ancestors, greatly to their sorrow, and united 
with the Methodists, in which communion she died. 
Her history would be incomplete without this 
reference to her religious views ; for it shows up 
the main features in her long and useful life ; a 
trait more than any other in the make-up of her 
symmetrical character was her great devotion to 
what she considered truth. She was the widow of 

Mundus, whom she had previously married; 

but he, dying soon after, left her with the care 
of children. 

When Mr. Murphy met her at her home in her 
native town, he was charmed with her grace of per- 
son and mental culture, sued for her hand and 
heart, and soon wedded her as his wife. They 
shortly after came to Catlettsburg, where Mr. 
Murphy carried on the business of tailoring, work- 
ing himself and employing journeymen up to near 
the time of his death, which occurred in 1849. 



THE MURPHY FAMILY. 265 

Mr. Murphy erected good, comfortable buildings 
for bis dwelling and shop, planted fruit-trees, 
shrubbery, and flowers, and made the place in that 
day look like a home for the fairies, such exqui- 
sitely good taste did his accomplished w^ife and their 
young daughters display. 

Four daughters were born of the union of Mr. 
Murphy and Mrs. Mundus {nee) Gordon. The 
eldest daughter married a Mr. McClure, of Burling- 
ton, Ohio. She died in middle life, leaving a 
family of children, who, under their father's faith- 
ful watch-care, came to man's and woman's estate 
clothed in honor and respectability. The next 
daughter married George Chappell, and, like her 
eldest sister, died leaving ungrown children, four 
in number — two boys and two girls. The father, 
Mr. Chappell, being a man of poor health, could 
do but little in providing for the support and train- 
ing of his offspring. So this onerous duty fell on 
the family of the Murphys, and was shared bravely 
alike by the grandmother and the aunts. Misses Anna 
and Julia. And no people ever were more faithful 
to a self-imposed trust than w^ere they. 

Mr, Murphy failed to leave great wealth to 
his widow and children at his death, although they 
were by no means destitute, owning a ^ood little 
farm and surroundings ; but they possessed that 
kind of wealth more valuable than stores and bank- 
stock, the legacy of willing hands to work, edu- 
cated intellects to guide and direct, and hearts full 

23 



266 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

of love going out after the dependent ones, causing 
them to feel that no labor, be it ever so hard, Avas 
too great to perform, if, by their sacrifices, the four 
children might grow to places of honor and useful- 
ness in the world. 

Mrs. Murphy was housekeeper and manager; 
Miss Anna was the teacher of the Chappell chil- 
dren, and also taught many of the neighboring chil- 
dren. It was a busy home, but by no means a dull 
one. Books on Science, Biography, Travels, The- 
ology, and the range of general literature were 
found in the library of the Murphys; and, what is 
still more to their credit, they were not only read 
but studied. 

Mrs. Murphy was a fluent conversationalist, and 
would discuss propositions in theology and political 
economy with the experts in those problems in a 
keen, logical way that was rare in a woman. The 
entire family kept abreast of the times by reading 
the current literature of the day found in books, 
magazines, and papers. 

We have stated that the mother was the con- 
trolling power of the household after her husband's 
death, and that Miss Anna applied her mind and 
energy to teaching, while Miss Julia, as if catching 
the inspiration from her father, applied herself to 
the work of the needle, not in the construction of 
men's garments, but in making the fine dresses for 
the ladies ; and while the fashionable dress-makers 
of the present time stand high as correct modistes, 



THE MURPHY FAMILY. 267 

they have no better reputation for first-class work 
than had Miss Julia, assisted by her mother and sister 
Anna. From 1850 to 1865 they were at the very 
head and front in fashionable dress-making. The 
trousseaus of many blushing brides of Catlettsburg 
and the neighboring towns were the tidy work ot 
these ladies. Not only were they the artists who 
prepared wedding garments for the better-to-do 
people, but their philanthropy caused them to vol- 
unteer to prepare habiliments to enrobe the dead. 
They were invited and welcome guests at the wed- 
dings of the rich and prosperous, and were thrice 
welcome at the house of mourning, where they ad- 
ministered words of consolation to the drooping, 
relieved the sick, and smoothed the pillow of the 
dying. Their social qualities were of a high order. 
For many years after the war many of the most 
wealthy and refined people of Catlettsburg thought 
it fortunate to spend a day at the delightful country 
home of the Murphys, so hearty was their welcome 
and so well did they know how to entertain. 

With all their broad philanthropy, the family, 
including mother and daughters, had one great object 
in view above all else, which was to educate and 
train for usefulness in life the two sons and two 
daughters left to them by Mrs. Chappell. To 
this end they made many sacrifices, even moving 
to Ironton, Ohio, for a time, that the children 
might enjoy the advantages of the schools of that 
place. Under such training, of course, the children. 



268 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

on coming to mature age, were well educated. 
Albert served a term faithfully in the Union army. 
William, the younger, engaged in clerking. The 
young ladies, Georgia and Julia, two beautiful girls, 
engaged in teaching. Their aunt. Miss Anna, died 
in 1867; both brothers and sisters soon followed 
the aunt, each dying within less than a year of the 
other, in 18 — , leaving the aged grandmother. Miss 
Julia, and William Murphy, an old bachelor brother 
of James K., who lived with the family from the time 
of his brother James's death in 1849, until his own, 
in 1877. 

Mrs. Murphy died about 1876, leaving no one 
of the once numerous family but Miss Julia, who 
has since sold the place, and now lives in town, still 
fresh and bright, carrying sunshine wherever she 
goes. She has a competency sufficient to chase dull 
care away, and passes along life's pathway, gather- 
ing flowers in the performance of acts of kindness 
and deeds of love and mercy, and weaving all into a 
garland more bright and fragrant than the great 
possessions of the uneducated miser. 



Towns of East Kentucky. 



CATLETTSBURG. 

GREAT FIRES. 

On the 22d of July, 1877, at twelve o'clock, 
noon, a fire broke out in Peter Paul Schauer's 
bakery, on South Front Street, and destroyed all 
of the business part of the town. The fire only 
raged three hours, but its work was complete. 
Every business house (including every hotel), save 
Coon Wait's grocery, was destroyed. In six months 
most of the " burnt district " was built up with 
substantial brick edifices. No one received the 
slightest injury to limb in contending with this 
great conflagration. 

SECOND GREAT FIRE. 

At one o'clock A. M., during the latter part of 
the month of August, 1884, a fire started in the 
great drug-house of Patton Bros., and spread on 
one side to Prichard & Wellman's wholesale 
grocery, D. H. Carpenter's wholesale dry-goods 
house, and a small brick adjoining, and on the 
other side to N. P. Andrews's dry-goods store, all 
of which were consumed, with most of their contents. 

James McKenzie, a young tinner, and David 
Kinner, a young business man of Williamsburg, 



270 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Ky., at Catlettsburg on a visit, were caught in the 
flames in saving goods from the Andrews building ; 
the latter was burned to a crisp, and his charred re- 
mains were not found for twenty hours after his 
death. The former was taken out alive, and lingered 
ten days in great agony before death came to 
his relief. John Graham, a negro stone-mason, and 
another well-liked colored man, also perished in the 
flames while carrying out goods from the burning 
building. 

All Catlettsburg was horror-stricken. The 
funerals of Kinner and McKenzie were attended by 
a vast concourse of people. Rev. Mr. Jackson, of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, delivering 
a great sermon on the death of young Kinner, who 
was the hope of his family, and Rev. Mr. Han- 
ford delivering an oration on the death of young 
McKenzie, the stay of his family. The colored 
men were buried with great ceremony also, rich 
ladies laying flowers on their caskets, because they 
died in discharge of duty. 

FIRE-ENGINE AND HOSE. 

In six months after the great holocaust, Catletts- 
burg procured a first-class fire-engine and hose, 
equal to any found in the State. The people spent 
$12,000 in taxes for that purpose. It would be 
hard to find a better drilled company of firemen 
than the brave boys who risk their lives in manning 
the Gate City fire-engine and hose. 



CATLETTSBURG. 271 



SANDY WASH-OUT, JULY, 1875. 

In the early part of the month of July, 1875, 
the Big Sandy suddenly rose forty feet, and as the 
Ohio River was at that time much below the ordi- 
nary low-water stage, the waters from the raging 
Sandy poured into it like a mighty avalanche, 
reaching to the north shore of that river, lashing 
boats tied there from their fastenings, and sending 
them adrift as though they were shingles. The 
force of the water was so great that South Front 
Street, from Division to two hundred feet above 
Franklin, was in less than twelve hours carried into 
the stream, together with all of the buildings on 
the street, excepting two ; and from one of those 
left, the front rooms, the principal part of the house, 
which was a large one (the Bartram Hotel), were 
carried with the others into the river. The houses 
destroyed were among the best in the town at that 
time. The loss to individuals was $50,000, besides 
the damage done to property below Division Street 
fronting the Ohio River by the bank giving way. 
This caused a great decline in the price of the property, 
and an ultimate loss to owners hard to estimate. 

The loss to the corporation could not have been 
less than |20,000, to say nothing of the inconven- 
ience to the people at large by the great wash-out. 
A good-sized steamboat, the Sam Cravens^ was at 
the time held in execution by the sheriff of 
Boyd County, Andrew Hogan, who had tied the 



272 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

craft to the shore below the mouth of the Sandy 
River, there to remain until the day arrived to dis- 
pose of her by public outcry. But the swirl pro- 
duced by the mad waves ingulfed the stout craft, 
and tore her cabin, keel, and hull into thousands of 
fragments, with as little ceremony as if she had 
been a partridge-trap. The destruction of this boat 
by the rushing waters was the cause of a vexatious 
law-suit, brought by the owner of the boat against 
the sheriff for failure to save the craft. After a 
controversy running through seven or eight years, 
the sheriff gained the suit. 

OHIO RIVER FLOOD OF 1883. 

The February flood of 1883 was many feet 
higher than the river had attained since December, 
1847, and was even higher than in that great over- 
flow. The indications for several days previous to 
any thing like a very high river, as well as tele- 
graphic reports from the head-waters above, gave 
ample warning to the citizens of Catlettsburg to 
set their houses in order, to prepare for a great in- 
undation. 

When the waters of the great flood appeared on 
the floors of the houses on the lower streets of the 
town, the occupants, while not welcoming the watery 
messenger as a willing guest, submitted to its silent 
entrance with a grace and resignation most com- 
mendable, knowing that no protest would or could 
prevent the god of waters from making pantry. 



CATLETTSBURG. 273 

kitchen, and parlor the haunts of his revels for at 
least several days ; and so the inhabitants made this 
overflow a time of social enjoyment. Boating, sail- 
ing, skiff-riding, and social calling by the gay 
belles and beaus were indulged in to an extent 
almost unparalleled in the history of the town. 
The waters came into most of the houses not situ- 
ated on or near the bluffs. They endured the siege 
good-humoredly. After a week's besiegement, 
many who had been driven to the second stories of 
their houses, and those who abode in one-story 
houses to other more favored retreats, were once 
more enthroned in their homes, which were made 
nicer by the thorough wash-out given them by the 
flood ; and in three months it would have been dif-^, 
ficult for one not a resident of the place to have 
known by ocular proof that any thing like a great 
overflow had visited the place. 

Of course the people were greatly inconven- 
ienced, and business was suspended for the time ; 
but no great loss fell on any one, and had not the 
greater flood of the next year visited the place, the 
people would have looked back to this one as, in 
many aspects, a forced gala-day. 

DELUGE OF FEBRUARY, 1884. 

The immense snow on the ground in the early 
part of February made the people restive ; but 
when the heavens were darkened with clouds omi- 
nous of rain, followed by twenty-four hours of one 



274 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

continual down-pour, the people felt their doom 
had come. They rallied as best they could, and 
set their houses, stores, factories, shops, and barns 
in order, to meet what was apparent to them, the 
coming of the greatest flood which had ever in- 
vaded their borders. By the tenth of the month 
the muddy waters had invaded all the houses in 
the lower portions of the town, and at the expira- 
tion of three more days, most of the houses in town 
were under water, some from one to four feet in the 
second story. Many inmates of two-story buildings 
had to abandon their homes, and seek shelter, which 
in many instances was most hospitably offered by 
the fortunate dwellers on the highlands of the 
town. Others took refuge on boats, both steam 
and flat, tied to trees growing in the town. This 
great deluge kept the people imprisoned for seven 
days. It was so far-reaching in its destruction 
that, for several days, many people suffered for the 
want of fire and food. But the famine was at 
length broken, as supplies came in from many 
quarters. 

The people of Ashland, always noted for humane 
acts, early came to the rescue with provisions and 
coal. Colonel Jay H. Northup, passing up to his 
home at Louisa when the flood was beginning to 
assume alarming proportions, gave the alarm there, 
and no people could have responded with greater 
alacrity and with fuller hands of benevolence than 
did the noble people of Louisa. Catlettsburg will 



CATLETTSBURG. 275 

never forget their noble generosity. To cap the 
Louisa climax of fraternal charity, the noble order 
of Odd Fellows in that place, although a small 
band, set to work among themselves and supple- 
mented the public charity of the people by sending 
to their water-beleaguered brethren at the Gate a 
supply of roasted ham, home-made light bread, 
baked turkeys, and chickens, besides many delica- 
cies, altogether making a menu that an epicure 
would envy. All of these creature comforts were 
speedily transported to the people of Catlettsburg 
by volunteers from Louisa. Catlettsburg will never 
forget Colonel Northup nor the noble people at the 
Forks. Catlettsburg Odd Fellows will remember 
their noble brethren up there with heartfelt frater- 
nal love. 

Secretary Lincoln, at the request of Congress- 
man Culbertson, sent a draft for $1,000. The 
State of Kentucky did handsomely, and that prince 
among gentlemen. Secretary of State Colonel 
McKenzie, came up to the Gate to see that the 
stores were properly distributed, and to encourage 
the distressed people. Many of our own citizens 
deserve great praise for their noble deeds of love 
and charity. Colonel Laban T. Moore gave food 
and shelter to all destitute of the same as long as 
any space was available in his large mansion, help- 
ing the extreme poor as well as the rich. James 
Wellman, R. C. Burns, W. N. Lanham, Captain 
Dye, John C. Eastham, Rev. Hanford, John Henry 



276 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Ford, E. T. Spencer, D. W. Eba, Captain Hopkins, 
Thomas Brown, George N. Brown, C. S, Ulen, Mrs. 
Rebecca Patton, Mrs. Richardson, and Rev. Mr. 
Meek, editor of the Central Methodist, gave over six 
hundred meals away, and never received one cent 
in return, not even in the provisions purchased 
with Government funds. But he and all who 
opened their houses to the flood sufferers have a 
better reward. 

Those whom we have named lived above the 
water-line. A thousand kind deeds were done by 
others whose premises were inundated, yet having 
a fellow-feeling in common with humanity were 
busy in attending to the wants of the aged, the 
sick, and helpless poor. 

When the flood disappeared from the lower 
floors and lawns, one could have a faint glimmer of 
the appearance of things after the subsidence of 
the great Deluge of Noah : — plastering falling from 
walls and ceiling; paper entirely ruined; windows 
broken, and doors so swollen out of size that 
they would not close ; floors covered with yellow 
sediment several inches thick. Inside all was dark 
and gloomy. Without all was chaos. Logs, old 
gates, fence-rails, broken jars, a dilapidated bench, 
a dead cat, an old day-book, a broken sieve, a roll- 
ing-pin, paper bag full of spoiled crackers, a dead 
chicken — the whole medley, and much more, cov- 
ered with mud three inches thick — greeted you. 
But look farther on, and all of the smaller outbuild- 



CATLETTSBURG. 277 

ings are gone. The barn is turned upside-down, 
and is a total wreck inside. The fences are all 
washed away. The alley in the rear of your prem- 
ises is choked up with logs and drift-w^ood, and 
you can 't get any thing hauled from that quarter. 
You look further on, and you see all of your 
neighbors in the same wretched condition as your- 
self. You take a census, and it shows that forty 
dwellings, shops, and stores have been washed 
from their foundations by the great flood. Only 
two or three of them could be returned; six or 
seven of them were never more seen nor heard 
from. The remainder were sold for trifles, to parties 
near by where they had lodged, or were wrecked and 
used for something, or were abandoned to any one 
who chose to use them. The store-buildings, great 
and small, presented a woe-begone aspect — plate- 
glass windows broken in ; goods wet and dripping ; 
owners cross and crabbed ; no doors to shut the 
cold out, they were so badly swollen ; every thing 
confusion. Housewives were tired down with 
anxiety, watching, and hard work, and children 
were cross and fretful. 

Plenty of laborers offered their services to work, 
but generally at high prices. One week was spent 
in washing out houses, putting down carpets, and 
placing furniture ; the next was spent in repairing 
walls and ceilings, and fitting in windows and 
doors. In a week more came paper-hangers and 
decorators, followed by the painter. During all 



278 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

this time men were busy cleaning rubbish from 
yards and lawns, and building fences and out- 
buildings. Furniture, parlor and bedroom, was 
added to make up for what was ruined or swept 
away in the flood. Not only were the dwellings of 
nine-tenths of the people submerged by the waters, 
but, to add to their burden, their churches were 
not in a single instance spared. They were to be 
cleared of the rubbish left by the overflow. New 
floors, new seats, and in fact a general renovation, 
had to be made before they were fit to worship in. 
But every one had a will to work, and in three 
months after the great event, the town had put on 
its former appearance, save that it looked cleaner 
and fresher. The houses were clean and healthy, 
and the churches greatly improved by needed alter- 
ations and decorations. 

When the people took a retrospective view of 
things, they calculated that, after deducting the do- 
nations from all sources which citizens had received, 
the net loss on the total was at the lowest figure 
seventy-five per cent on their property destroyed. 
The money donated was a great boon to many, en- 
abling them to get their houses back on the foun- 
dations from which they had been washed, to buy 
a stove or bed to supply the place of the articles 
lost, and to make their houses inhabitable until 
they could, out of their resources, raise means to 
make more permanent repairs. It was a great help 
in time of much need, and the people of Catletts- 



CA TLETTSB URG. 279 

burg will never cease to hold in kind remembrance 
all those who aided them in any way in this great 
calamity. 

CATLETTSBURG CHURCHES. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, and the Presbyterians 
have each a brick church edifice, built in the order 
named. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
is the largest, the Presbyterian the most artistic, 
while the Methodist Episcopal Church stands be- 
tween in size and appearance. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, has also a neat frame 
church in the lower suburb. The Christians, or 
Reformers, have a good frame church, and at 
Hampton City a fine frame free church has lately 
been erected. The colored Methodists have a good 
frame church. The Regular Baptists have laid 
the stone foundation for a fine church, which they 
intend soon to complete. In all, Catlettsburg con- 
tains seven church-buildings, all finished, and one 
under way. The first church built at Catlettsburg, 
or the Mouth of Sandy, was a frame one for the 
use of Presbyterians and Southern Methodists, in 
1849. It stood on the lot now occupied by the 
Presbyterian Church. 

CATLETTSBURG SCHOOLS. 

A COMMODIOUS two-story brick edifice, finished 
and furnished in the most superb manner, is the 



280 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

seat of the Catlettsburg graded school. At present 
four professors do the work. The tuition is free, 
the people of the town supplementing the State 
tax, to keep the school in operation ten months in 
the year. The school-buildings in both of the 
principal suburbs are first-class frame buildings. 
The colored children have the advantage of a five 
months' school. 

The East Kentucky Normal School has become 
one of the most noted and popular institutions of 
learning in the State. Its beautiful grounds, laid 
off into walks, parks, flower-plats, as well as its 
fine buildings, make it the pride of Catlettsburgers, 
and of Big Sandians as well. 

CATLETTSBURG'S BENEFACTORS. 

D. W. Eba, an old-time Catlettsburg merchant, 
has reared, by his liberality, a magnificent monu- 
ment, in the erection of the Alger House, a hotel- 
building every way adequate, in size, location, and 
artistic design, to meet the wants of the live, wide- 
awake metropolis at the Gate of the valley. While 
Mr. Eba may not be commended for financial sa- 
gacity in investing so heavily, all must praise him 
for the good taste and self-dependence displayed in 
adding so much to Catlettsburg enterprise. 

A. F. Morse, another old-time merchant, sup- 
plied a long-felt want by the building of Morse 
Opera-house in Catlettsburg. It is one of the or- 
naments of the town. It is not only thrown open 



CATLETTSBURG. 281 

for dramatic performances, but is used for great 
meetings, religious, educational, and political. It 
makes a fine impression on distinguished strangers 
visiting the town. 

CATLETTSBURG'S BANKS. 

Ben. Burk, a typical old-time Sandian, was the 
first to open and conduct a bank on Sandy. In 
1867 he went into the banking business at Catletts- 
burg, but continued in the business only a year. 
Not finding it profitable, he wound up the business, 
and was appointed postmaster. No one lost a cent 
by Mr. Burk's bank. He died many years ago, 
greatly respected by all who knew him. His 
widow still lives in the Burk homestead, greatly 
respected for her many noble qualities of head and 
heart. 

Wilson & Andrews' Bank. 

In 1868 Daniel Wilson and James A. Andrews 

came from an interior county of the State, and 

started a private bank. They brought a large, 

strong safe, which was hauled up from the wharf 

on the Sunday after its arrival, requiring a string 

of oxen two hundred yards long. They placed the 

safe in an unpretending building, and soon opened 

business. Money was abundant at that time, and 

very soon the great vault groaned under the heavy 

deposits brought to the bank by business men and 

others, who felt that their money was safer locked 

24 



282 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

up in a bank vault than it would be in a trunk^ or 
bureau-drawer. The splendid opening seemed to 
daze the young bankers. The families of both 
were favorably known to Big Sandians as people 
of the highest respectability, and the young men, 
meanwhile, conducted themselves with propriety. 
But they engaged in building and running large 
saw-mills and planing-mills, in buying suburban 
real estate and wild lands, and laying out a town, 
in building houses, in keeping blooded stock, in 
patronizing livery stables, and in attending festivals 
and all charitable gatherings of the people. Most 
of the things were laudable ; but it took money, and 
the draft on their bank was too great to stand the 
strain. In 1873 it closed its doors, and made an 
assignment, when it was found to owe about 
$90,000, with estimated assets a little less. The 
latter consisted largely in the saw-mills and plan- 
ing-mills, in cheap lots in the vicinity of Catletts- 
burg, and disputed accounts against individuals, 
which required vexatious and expensive lawsuits to 
settle. As the personal and real property was sold 
at a great sacrifice, creditors only received about 
forty per cent on their claims. Mr. Wilson went 
to Texas, and engaged in stock-raising, while his 
partner, Mr. Andrews, went into the coal business 
in Ohio, but soon after took his own life. 

The failure of this bank, it being the first that 
tumbled to the approaching financial panic — which 
rose into great fury in less than two weeks after by 



CATLETTSBURG. 283 

the collapse of the great banking-houses of Jay 
Cook, Henry Clews, and soon by scores of others 
in the great money centers — was waggishly looked 
upon as the starter of the great financial panic of 
1873; an evidence that the valley was not only 
noted for having been at one time the center of the 
greatest ginseng trade on the continent, and for 
being now the greatest timber center in the Ohio 
Valley, but must ever after be celebrated as the 
starter of the great financial disasters of 1873 in 
the United States. 

Witten & Davidson's Bank. 

Soon after the suspension of Wilson & An- 
drews, Green M. Witten and Joseph Davidson, two 
well and favorably known business men of Pres- 
tonburg, commenced business in Catlettsburg as 
private bankers. Both gentlemen had the confi- 
dence of the entire people of the valley ; and while 
so many of the people had lost heavily by the 
failure of its predecessor, the bank of W itten and 
Davidson and of G. M. Witten was always held 
in high esteem ; for no one lost a cent by it, 
while it was a great convenience to the people. 
After two or three years' run, Mr. Davidson with- 
drew from the firm, after which time G. M. Witten 
alone conducted its affairs with the same satisfac- 
tion to the business people as when Mr. Davidson 
was a member of the firm. Mr. Witten, getting 
tired of the worry of the banking business, and his 



284 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

health declining, he wound up the affair, and re- 
tired from the field in 1882. 

A National Bank Dennanded. 

The opening up of the Chatterawha Railroad to 
Peach Orchard, forty miles up the Sandy Valley, 
and the building of the E. L. & Big Sandy Rail- 
road, so stimulated trade and commerce in the 
great valley, that merchants, timber-traders, and 
business people generally, more than ever felt the 
great need of a well-endowed bank at Catlettsburg, 
the wholesale mercantile center of the valley, where 
they might find a safe place to make their deposits 
and get their mercantile paper discounted. Having 
had a checkered experience with private banks, the 
people turned away from them, but wanted a bank 
with plenty of capital to meet the wants of their 
growing business, and conducted by men who, by 
personal fitness and training in banking business, 
would afford them assurance of fair dealing; and 
over all the strong arm of the General Government 
to supervise the institution, and thus make doubly 
sure that no more failures would occur. 

Catlettsburg National Bank. 

The field being so promising, and the demand 
for such a bank so imperative, Mr. A. C. Campbell, 
of Ashland, made a full investigation, and satisfied 
himself of the expediency of occupying it at once. 

Mr. Campbell, John Russell, of Ashland ; Co- 



CATLETTSBURG. 



285 



lumbus Prichard, Robert H. Prichard, and after- 
wards Wallace J. Williamson, of Catlettsburg, and 
perhaps others, became stock-holders, and organized 
the Catlettsburg National Bank. The bank opened 
for business on the first day of July, 1882, having 
for its officers John Russell, president ; Robert H. 
Prichard, vice-president ; A. C. Campbell, cashier ; 
James Trimble, teller; and J. Lewis Prichard, col- 
lecting clerk and messenger. The first building 
occupied by the ;: :; 

bank was a neat 
and tasteful 
structure on 
Center Street, 
fitted up in the 
best manner to 
accommodate 
both bankers 
and customers. 
That the stock- 
holders and of- 
ficers of the new bank at once inspired the greatest 
confidence in business circles was no wonder, when 
it is known that every one of them was noted for 
business capacity, strict integrity, with ample capi- 
tal; and, in addition, the president was an old bank 
director, while the cashier had had many years of 
experience as cashier of one of the most successful 
national banks in the State. These gentlemen, 
being safe and conservative, started the bank on a 




THE CATLETTSBURG NATIONAL BANK. 



286 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

capital of $50,000, but some time after increased the 
capital stock to $100,000, all paid in. 

The steady growth of the business of the bank 
was so great that the stock-holders in 1885 found 
it necessary to provide more extensive quarters for 
their prosperous business. They procured the lot 
on the north-east corner of Division and Center 
Streets, being the most eligible corner in town, on 
which they erected a bank building, which, for 
beauty of architectural design, substantiality of 
construction, convenience of internal and external 
arrangements, and general appearance, is equal to 
the finest buildings for similar purposes in the 
great cities of the country. It is altogether the 
handsomest building in Catlettsburg, a little city 
now noted for its many handsome structures for 
both private and public uses. 

The walls of the basement are built of ashlered 
stones, trimmed with polished blue freestone. From 
the top of the basement the walls are of pressed 
brick, laid in diamond cement, covered in by an 
ornate roof of the best of Pennsylvania slate. The 
spacious sub-cellar, which extends under the entire 
building, is as light and dry as the great halls 
above. Part of the space is used for a coal-bin. 
The great vault, used for storing the money and 
other valuables of the bank, rests on the bed-rock 
of the basement. The remaining space can be used 
for confectionery, cigar-stands, barber-shops, or 
other light mechanical or mercantile business. 



CATLETTSBURG. 287 

If you wish to go above and look around and 
take in the main parts, you will ascend the wide, 
spacious stone steps, which face both Division and 
Center Streets, guarded on either side by huge 
dragons in bronze, and you are in the lobby, a 
large, spacious hall, capable of holding one hundred 
or more persons in comfort. Immediately in front 
of you, separated by a carved wood counter, ex- 
tending to the ceiling, you will see the large 
counting-room in which are engaged the officers 
and employes of the bank, busy at work at their 
desks or at their money-tables. From the lobby 
you get a glimpse of the great vault, the receptacle 
of the vast sums of money that all those men you 
see in the office are busily employed, day by day, 
in receiving, counting, paying out, and caring for. 
When in the lobby or hall, should you desire it, 
and Mr. Campbell is not too busy, and should he 
know you to be a gentleman of principle, he will 
take you by a side passage-way to the private office 
of the bank, where the officers and directors meet 
to transact the business of the bank. He will also 
lead the way, and show you other apartments 
w^hich are needful in the conducting of a first-class 
bank on strict business principles. 

The exterior of the building is as beautiful and 
tasteful as the interior is commodious and conven- 
ient. The stained glass windows, the dormers in 
sides and roof, the beautiful minarets and graceful 
spires, all combine to please the eye and satisfy 



288 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

the esthetic taste. Not only the citizens of Catletts- 
burg, but the people of the Sandy Valley in general, 
take pride in surveying this beautiful structure, feel- 
ing that it is a Sandy enterprise, the building being 
almost entirely constructed by Sandy Valley me- 
chanics and artisans, and the bank officials and stock- 
holders embracing a large number of native Sandians. 

The description of the bank and its young life 
would not be complete without a short sketch of 
the officers and stockholders. 

The president, John Russell, came to this sec- 
tion of country from Pennsylvania when a very 
young man, and obtained a position at Amanda 
Furnace, which he filled so faithfully that the late 
highly respected Hugh Means, then of Bellefont 
Furnace, took him into partnership. It has been 
said that, owing to Mr. RusselPs superior manage- 
ment " Bellefont made money in good times and 
bad times f and yet not at the expense of the 
hands, for he was always liked by them. He pros- 
pered in business as the years came and went, until 
to-day he is one of the most extensive real estate 
owners and manufacturers in the county. He is 
also engaged in large coal-mining operations, and 
is a heavy shareholder and president of the largest 
iron-works of the kind, save one, on the Continent. 
In a word, he is an honest, safe, and conservative 
business man, whose reputation for wealth, business 
qualifications, integrity, and moral worth has never 
been questioned. 



CATLETTSBURG. 289 

A. C. Campbell, cashier, is a younger man, but 
has lived long enough to make his mark as a 
banker of unquestioned talent. He came of a family 
respected for their moral worth, who, by honest 
labor, strict attention to business, and financial 
ability, became wealthy. He has not only followed 
in their pathAvay, but has advanced on what they 
had so well begun. In his boyhood he was quali- 
fied as a book-keeper to enter the counting-house of 
a large iron manufacturing establishment, and was, 
about the close of the late war, elected by the directors 
of the Bank of Ashland as its teller. On the death 
of the late John N. Eichardson, so favorably 
known to the elder people of the Sandy Valley, 
Mr. Campbell succeeded him as cashier. This 
change occurred in 1868. In 1872, the Bank of 
Ashland, doing business under a charter from the 
State of Kentucky, was organized under the laws 
of the United States, and became a national bank, 
with an increased capital in its vaults. Mr. Camp- 
bell continued his official position with the bank 
as its cashier until the year 1882, when he asked to 
be relieved to accept the same office in the Catletts- 
burg National Bank ; making a continuous service 
now (1887) of four years as teller, and seventeen 
years as cashier. This makes him a veteran in the 
banking business. He owns large real estate inter- 
ests in Ashland and elsewhere, and is one of Boyd 
County^s solid men. 

Kobert H. Prichard, the vice-president, is also 

25 



290 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

a man of solid wealth, and of great financial ability. 
By industry and close application to business, com- 
mencing when a boy on his father's farm on the 
Big Sandy River, to trade in a small way, he now 
finds himself, before he has arrived at the zenith 
of manhood, a man of wealth. He is a member 
of the timber-trading firm of Vinson, Goble & 
Prichard, and has other large investments. 

James Trimble, the teller, like Mr. Prichard, is 
a native Big Sandian, having been born and edu- 
cated in Floyd County, the home of his maternal 
ancestors for four generations before him. His 
father dying while he was a little child, after he 
received his scholastic education he was trained in 
mercantile affairs by Major Morgan Lackey, his 
great-uncle, a noted merchant of Prestonburg, Ken- 
tucky. The directory of the bank chose him to 
count their money, owing to his exact business 
qualifications, strict integrity, and general fitness — 
all based on Christian principles. It is an open 
secret that he bids fair to reach a still higher plane 
in banking and financial circles. 

Wallace J. Williamson and Columbus Prichard, 
of the directory, are both Sandians by birth and rais- 
ing. The former is a native of Pike County, 
where he has, by inheritance and purchase, become 
a vast land-owner, his property being valuable in 
timber and minerals. He is an extensive timber- 
dealer, and member of the firm of Williamson & 
Hampton. He has other large business interests, 



CATLETTSBUEG. 291 

and is among Catlettsburg's solid men. Mr. 
Prichard is a brother of Robert H. Prichard, the 
vice-president, and, as has been said of his brother, 
was born and raised on Sandy. He is the owner of 
a wholesale mercantile house in Catlettsburg, and 
has other investments. 

Crate Brubaker entered the bank as chief book- 
keeper on its opening, but was compelled by declin- 
ing health, though reluctantly, to give up his posi- 
tion, which for more than three years he filled so 
ably. His departure from the bank was lamented 
by every officer and employe, for he was a skillful 
accountant and a polished gentleman, admired for 
his many virtues and social qualities. 

J. Lewis Prichard, the collecting clerk, on losing 
his health, was compelled to ask to be relieved, and 
sought relaxation in a business which called for 
more out-door exercise. He, too, was a faithful 
employ^, and was greatly missed. 

Young Mr. Davis, son of Mitch. Davis, of Taze- 
well County, Virginia, is now filling the place of 
Perly Brubaker, while Bascom Hatton, son of J. 
F. Hatton, of Rockville Station, is the successor 
of Mr. Prichard. 

It will be seen that the Sandy Valley is largely 
in the ascendancy in the number of officers and em- 
ployes of the bank — another evidence of the suc- 
cess of business tact and qualification possessed by 
the Sandy young men. 



292 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

LOUISA, 

The county town of Lawrence County, is some- 
times called the Gem of the Mountains. It is 
beautiful of situation, especially so when viewed 
from the town hill. Frederick Moore and others 
owned the land on which it was built. It was laid 
out in 1821, and made the county seat. It has the 
best court-house in Eastern Kentucky, and among the 
best in the State. It has three good church-build- 
ings — a Methodist Episcopal, a Methodist Episco- 
pal, South, and a Baptist — all brick. It has a 
Masonic Hall, built of brick, under which is the 
public school building. It is the seat of a large 
trade. The Chatterawha Railroad, passing through 
it, has greatly helped to start it off on the road to 
progress. It has a live Democratic paper, pub- 
lished and edited by the Messrs. Ferguson and 
Conly, both natives of the Sandy Valley. A roller 
process flour-mill, the only one on Sandy, is located 
in Louisa. Many eminent men of the Sandy Valley 
have been at some time, or are now, residents of 
Louisa. It was once the seat of a great ginseng 
and fur trade. It is now the head-quarters for 
many timber men. 

Lawrence County has vast forests of oak timber, 
and it is a wonder, the land being good, it is not 
denuded of it. There is a fine opening for invest- 
ments in land for cultivation in Lawrence County. 
The county is Democratic in politics, but the people 



PAINTSVILLE. 293 

often ignore politics and put into office men of the 
minority. 

At Louisa the first attempt to settle in the val- 
ley was made by the erection of two forts in 1787, 
by Van Cover and others. 



RICHARDSON, 

The present terminus of the Chatterawha Rail- 
road, is a bustling little town, perched on the east 
bank of the Sandy River, fifty miles from Catletts- 
burg. M. C. D. Preston, a fine representative of 
the house of Preston, is the hotel-keeper there, and 
in the store has for a partner Patrick Henry 
Vaughan, who honors the name by his manly ways. 



PAINTSVILLE, 

The county town of Johnson County, was laid 
out in 1842, on the lands of the Dixons, one- 
half mile from the Sandy River, on Paint Creek. 
It has an old-time court-house, built of brick, and 
of sufficient capacity to answer the purposes for 
which it was built at the formation of the county. 
The people year by year grow in morality ; and 
four days, and often less, is sufficient time to keep 
the Criminal Court and grand jury in session ; and 
three or four days finishes the docket of the Circuit 
Court. The people are, perhaps, the most law- 
abiding of any county in the State, and all seem to 



294 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

pay their debts and settle their disputes without re- 
course to law. 

Paintsville and Johnson County have good 
schools and churches, dotting the whole country. 
Rev. William Jayne, an educated Baptist preacher, 
has done much to help along the education of 
school-teachers in his " Enterprise Academy," 
located at Flat Gap, in Johnson County. 

Johnson County is the opposite of its neighbor 
Floyd in politics, the latter being as solidly Repub- 
lican, though by a smaller majority, as the former is 
Democratic. Before the war Johnson had at one 
election but seven Whigs in its borders. All others 
were Democrats. But the war changed it all. 

Paintsville has two frame school-houses and 
three church-buildings. The first, built in 1866, 
the Methodist Episcopal, is a frame ; the next, 
built in about 1880, the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, is a beautiful brick ; and the last, a 
neat brick structure, belongs to the Christian or 
Reform Church. 

Near Paintsville, on Jennies' Creek, lived Jenny 
Wiley, whose three children were killed by the In- 
dians, and she was carried away captive, but re- 
turned several years after. The name of the fertile 
stream is her monument, and will perpetuate her 
name. Her descendants live in Johnson County. 



EDEN, 295 

MARTINSBURG, 

The county seat of Elliott County, is located 
on the waters of the Little Sandy River. It has 
fair public buildings. The town is small, but is 
growing. The county has much good corn and 
grazing land, and is very rich in timber and coal; 
and is noted for the great number of horses and 
mules its people raise for market. 

The morals of the peoj^le are greatly improved, 
for it is well known that for some time in the past 
much disorder prevailed in Elliott. Churches and 
school-houses are being built throughout the county, 

Elliott County is overwhelmingly Democratic. 



EDEN, 

The county seat of Martin County, is a bright 
little place, nestled on the banks of the Rock Castle, 
eight miles from the Chatterawha Railroad, at 
Peach Orchard. It has a good brick court-house 
and jail, a good church (Methodist Episcopal, 
South), and a school-house. The land is covered 
with fine oak and poplar timber, selling at low 
prices. The great Warfield Salt-works are located 
at Warfield, on the Tug River, ten miles from 
Eden. A salt- well of great flow and strength of 
water is found on the farm of Wells Ward, a few 
miles from Eden, which has force enough to run a 
mill. One of the most prodigious gas-wells found 



296 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

in the Union is at Warfield, in this county. The 
gas from the well would, if applied, run all the 
machinery of the industries of Cincinnati, besides 
illuminating the great city. General George Wash- 
ington noted the appearance of the gas at Warfield 
in his field-notes, when he ran the line up Tug in 
1767. 

The county is largely Republican, although the 
county offices are generally divided. 



SALYERSVILLE 



Is THE county town of Magoffin County, and was 
made the capital on the formation of the county in 
1860. It has a good brick court-house and jail. 
A good frame Methodist Episcopal Church and a 
school-building are among its public edifices. It 
has several large stores, doing a large business. 
Two good flour-mills and saw-mills, a woolen-mill, 
a large tannery, and other industries, make it a live 
town. The town is on the east bank of the main 
Licking, just below the celebrated Burning Fork, 
the seat of a great gas deposit. Salyersville is 
eighteen miles from the Sandy River, at or near 
Paintsville. It is near the seat of Licking Station, 
an old fortification built to guard against Indian 
depredations. Magoffin is noted for the fertility 
of its bottom lands and its forests of valuable 
timber. 

In politics the county is very close, giving. 



PEESTONBURG. 297 

however, a small Republican majority ; yet the 
county offices are generally divided amongst both 
parties. Congressman Taulbee lives in Salyersville. 



WEST LIBERTY, 

The county seat of Morgan County, is on the 
Licking, but part of Morgan County is in the Sandy 
Valley. It is a small but substantial town, and has 
a good reputation for the number of able public 
men who have brought honor to the place by living 
in it. The county is rich in lands, minerals, and 
timber. West Liberty has a ncAVspaper, formerly 
the ScoreheVy now the Gem^ which is one of the 
brightest journals in the State. In politics the pa- 
per is Democratic. It is conducted by the Hazle- 
riggs, father and son. A good academy of learn- 
ing is located in West Liberty. Splendid deposits 
of cannel-coal are found in Morgan. The county 
is strongly Democratic. 



PRESTONBURG, 

County seat of Floyd County, is the oldest town 
in the valley, having been founded in 1799, and 
named after Colonel Preston, who was at the time 
assistant surveyor of the public lands in Kentucky. 
Being so long the seat of political empire, it is 
natural that many great and noted men should seek 
a home in its precincts, or for a time sojourn in its 



298 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 

borders. In addition to the personal annals of cit- 
izens of the county of Floyd, found recorded in 
this book, many events of a general nature should 
be recorded, also, to make the history complete. 

Stirring events occurred in Floyd County dur- 
ing the great Civil War. At Ivy Mountain, in the 
upper edge of the county, the battle of that name 
was fought, in the Fall of 1861, between the Con- 
federate forces, commanded by Colonel A. J. May, 
and the Union forces, led by General William 
Nelson. The Confederates had for some weeks 
been recruiting their forces at Prestonburg; but 
on the approach of Nelson with near five thou- 
sand men, they hastily left their camp at that place 
and retreated up the Sandy River. On reaching 
the upper part of Ivy Mountain, and at the head 
of a long, narrow stretch in the road, on one side 
of which was the Sandy River and on the other a 
solid cliff of rock, so precipitous that a squirrel 
could scarce find a foothold, the Confederates 
arranged themselves in battle order, and waited the 
approach of the Union forces. The battle was 
sharply contested. While the Confederates had 
the advantage in the ground selected, the Union 
force was greatly superior in numbers and disci- 
pline. When the whole Union force came within 
musket range of the Southern army, the latter re- 
tired in good order. Several were wounded on 
both sides. The killed were but two or three on 
each side. Among the killed on the Confederate 



PRESTONBURG. 299 

side was Hon. Henry M. Rust, of Greenup, Ky. 
Mr. Rust had just finished his term of service in 
the Kentucky Legislature as senator from his dis- 
trict. Being a native Virginian, and his State hav- 
ing declared for secession, he felt morally bound to 
follow her in the war. His death was not only 
lamented by his Confederate friends, but he was 
mourned by the people of Boyd and Greenup with 
the most bitter sorrow ; for all knew him to be a man 
of superior talents, and possessing a most generous 
nature. What made his fate the more sad was the 
fact that he was betrothed to a beautiful young 
lady, whose father was a distinguished senator. 
Some time after the battle his remains were carried 
to Catlettsburg, and buried. 

Early in the year of 1862 the battle of Middle 
Creek, in Floyd County, was fought. General Mar- 
shall commanding the Southern forces, and Colonel 
Garfield, with his regiment, the 42d Ohio, the 14th 
Kentucky, and other forces, commanding the Union 
army. For several hours a continuous rain of ball 
and shell was poured out. The Confederates re- 
tired when they saw that they were overcome with 
a superior force and were being outflanked, taking 
their dead and wounded with them. They marched 
to Pound Gap. The Union army lost one man 
killed. Nelson Boggs, of the 14th, and several 
slightly wounded. Ten years after the battle a 
person could have picked up hundreds of bullets, 
as they lay scattered in every direction. This battle 



300 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

gave to Colonel Garfield a general's star, and no 
doubt started him on the road leading to the Pres- 
idential chair. 

THE SMALL-POX. 

In 1883 one John Neal, or, as he was generally 
called, " Uncle Jack,'' a wealthy, miserly merchant, 
high up on Beaver, went to Portsmouth, Ohio, to 
lay in a stock of goods. He there contracted that 
loathsome disease, small-pox. Not knowing that 
he had been exposed to the disease, he returned by 
way of Catlettsburg, putting his goods aboard a 
push-boat, and taking passage on the same craft 
himself. Before reaching home he was taken sick, 
but still continued his journey until he reached his 
home. His neighbors, in the kindness of their 
hearts, for several miles round, called to see him, 
under the impression that it was measles, as he had 
broken out. Soon the old man died, and many 
flocked to his funeral. In ten days nearly four- 
score cases of small-pox had broken out in the 
neighborhood. As soon as it was known that the 
disease was small-pox, the county authorities set to 
work to meet the great emergency that was upon 
them. 

A young doctor of Prestonburg, named A. H. 
Stewart, who had just returned from Cincinnati, 
where he had been attending his first lectures, came 
home to spend Christmas vacation, and hearting of 
the great scourge, applied himself to treating the 



PRESTONBURG. 301 

sick and burying the dead. For weeks he was 
completely shut in from the outside world, and bat- 
tled heroically with the great scourge. Dr. Turner, 
of Paintsville, was called to his assistance, and ren- 
dered valuable service. Local doctors were also 
brave. The gallant young disciple of Esculapius, 
Stewart, remained on the ground until the loath- 
some pestilence was completely stamped out, and, 
after burning the infected buildings by order of 
the civil authorities, and disinfecting furniture and 
fumigating his own clothes, returned to Preston- 
burg, his home, to receive the plaudits of the 
people. 

The people of Prestonburg, while always noted 
for intellectual culture, and given to hospitality, de- 
voted more of their time and means to public af- 
fairs, national. State, and county, than to developing 
the town materially. But a tide of material pros- 
perity is now flowing in, which bids fair to con- 
tinue until the old, decayed buildings, erected by 
the first settlers, give place to modern structures, 
more pretentious in appearance and convenient in 
arrangement. Walter S. Harkins, Frank Hopkins, 
and others of the younger leading citizens, stimu- 
lated by their young blood, have set the example 
in erecting buildings, both for residences and of- 
fices, of handsome architectural construction, that 
would do credit to towns much larger. Especially 
is this so of the well-arranged office of Mr. Har- 
kins, an illustration of which embellishes this book. 



302 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. ' 

The older men of the place are catching the infec- 
tion, and the time is not far distant when old Pres- 
tonburg will be clad in 7iew garments of modern 
progress, and the oldest town in the Sandy Valley 
will become the most modern in material, intellec- 
tual, and moral prosperity. 

In early days, Prestonburg was somewhat given 
to dissipation ; but no town on the Sandy ever had 
a stronger moral and religious element to combat 
the vices of the day. The homes of the people 
were always the earthly paradise of preachers, the 
people showing them and the cause they advocated 
great love and respect. The great Dr. Peter Akers, 
once the brilliant lawyer of Flemingsburg, delivered 
the first sermon of his life in Prestonburg while 
attending court there. This great divine died in 
1886, aged ninety-two years. 



HINDMAN, 

The county seat of Knott County, is located on 
Beaver, a tributary of the Big Sandy. The public 
buildings are in course of construction. Knott 
County is a rugged, hilly country, but has valuable 
deposits of coal and a great deal of valuable timber 
within its borders. It is Democratic in politics. 



PIKEVILLE. 303 

PIKEVILLE 

Was laid out as the county seat of Pike on the 
formation of the county, in 1821. Thomas Owens, 
a New Yorker, but of English descent, the grand- 
father of Jefferson Owens, of Catlettsburg, owned 
the land at the time. Mr. Owens was often called 
" Dad ^' Owens as a nickname. He was a good 
man, upright, honest, religious, and liked by all. 
, For a time he was a partner of Frederick Moore 
in selling goods at Pikeville. Mr. Moore had a 
large store at the " Forks.^' One day ^^ Dad ^^ 
Owens went into the store, and was told by his 
partner that he would let him take up to the Pike 
store all the coffee he might w^ant ; " for," said Mr. 
Moore, " I have just received the largest invoice 
ever brought to Sandy, being a full barrel of the 
enchanting berry." In that early day coffee was 
only used on rare occasions. A very sick person, 
or the marriage of a favorite daughter, would bring 
it forth ; and sometimes a cup for the preacher, and 
one for the grown folks on Sunday morning, was 
indulged. Children never drank it in early times, 
and their health would be better and the race would 
be improved if they did not drink it now. 

The public buildings erected were sufficient for 
the times, and though sixty-six years have come 
and gone, the same court-house and jail are doing 
service for the county. A new court-house and 
jail are now being constructed, to take the place of 



304 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

the old buildings. The new ones will be not only 
a credit to the county of Pike, but to the State. 

Pikeville improved but little until 1845, when 
she made a forward movement. A good frame 
Methodist Church was built, and many other evi- 
dences of progress appeared. Since the close of the 
Civil War in 1865, Pikeville has been built up with 
more solid and commodious brick and frame build- 
ings than any town of its size in the valley. Two 
new churches have been built, one by the Meth-. 
odist Episcopal Church, the other by the Church 
South ; and a large Masonic temple graces the 
place. Some fine brick residences adorn the ave- 
nues. Among the handsomest are those of Colonel 
John Dils, Jr., and Richard Ferrell. 

The trade of Pikeville is very large, coming, 
part of it, for fifty miles. Pike County is a very 
rich county in farming lands, as well as in timber 
and minerals. Pikeville is a picturesque little 
town. As it skirts the banks of the Sandy, it looks 
like a variegated ribbon unrolled from the block. 
Its people are full of enterprise, thrift, and progress. 

The county is Democratic in politics ; but the 
people pay but little regard to the dictation of their 
party leaders on either side, and elect to office men 
who suit them, regardless of political bearing. 



Pictorial Embellishments in the Book. 



Each picture is designed to represent a special 
subject. Judge Borders, Moses (Coby) Preston, 
Ben. Williamson, Fred. Moore, and General Hager 
stand for the early pioneers. Nat Auxier, Colonel 
John Dils, Jr., stand for the people of the second 
period of Big Sandy history. Dr. Kincaid repre- 
sents the old doctors, and Dr. Banfield, the younger 
physicians. J. Frew Stewart stands for the old 
classical teachers, and John W. Langley for the 
literary young men of the valley. Judge John M. 
Burns represents the brilliant family whose name 
he bears — a family which was a potent factor in the 
law and politics of the early days, and grows no 
less with time. Hon. M. J. Ferguson represents 
an honored family, and his own great name and 
fame. General G. W. Gallup stands for having 
attained the highest military title of any Big Sandian 
in the War for the Union ; Major Burchett, to 
show to what eminence a young man may reach, 
though living in obscurity and laden with toil, 
if he only has energy. John S. Patton represents 
the young man who is sure to reach the pin- 
nacle of fame by a steady resolve to do right and 
persevere. S. S. Vinson represents the sturdy 

Sandian overcoming great difficulties, and gaining 

26 



306 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

the front rank as a business man and upright public 
officer. Rev. Z. Meek, D. D., represents the youth 
who, in starting out in life, wrote " Excelsior '' on 
his banner, and never stopped until he achieved 
success as editor, minister, and business man. Cap- 
tain Marcum represents energy peculiar to the 
Sandy people, and is an example of the success 
which may be attained by trimming the midnight 
lamp to get an education. Felix A. Barbee repre- 
sents the newspaper fraternity, as does Captain 
Marcum and others. Captain A. E. Adams repre- 
sents the dashing cavalryman, politician, and busi- 
ness man. Walter S. Harkins represents the suc- 
cessful lawyer, who applies the laws of business to 
all business matters, and is not neglectful of culti- 
vating the esthetic graces that beautify mind and 
person. His uncle, John Harkins, stands for a 
brilliant lawyer and noble man. R. M. Wedding- 
ton represents journalism and the head of an old- 
time and honored family. Captain John B. Goff 
stands for the warm-hearted man and soldier of the 
Confederate army. William Crum represents the 
struggling boy, making a success in life by close 
application to business ; while Arthur Preston is 
given as a specimen of the energy and thrift of the 
later generations of the old house of Preston. 
Colonel Jay H. Northup represents a leader in the 
broadening out of the timber-trade, and the liberal 
promoter of public improvements in the valley. 
George S. Richardson stands for the pioneer in 



PICTORIAL EMBELLISHMENTS. 307 

the development of the mineral resources of the 
valley. Rev. AYilliam Hampton fitly represents 
energy in improving the valley, and the Christian 
minister. His wife stands for all the virtues of the 
noble wife, mother, and Christian lady, and as a 
representative of the honored house of Buchanan. 

The pictorial illustrations of the buildings found 
in this book are singularly correct. 

The residence of Colonel John Dils, Jr., at 
Pikeville, is both spacious and ornate, just such a 
home as a wealthy and cultured gentleman would 
be expected to provide for his family. 

Walter S. Harkins, of Prestonburg, is not be- 
hind Colonel Dils in building architecture. His 
law office is far in advance of any law office in the 
valley, both in beauty of design and completeness of 
internal and external arrangements. 

Captain Frank Preston's homestead, at Paints- 
ville, is ornamental enough, but, like its owner, is 
more solid than showy. It is one of the most com- 
fortable and convenient homesteads in the valley. 

The residence of John Lockwood, of Lockwood 
Station, on the Chatterawha Railroad, is called the 
best farm homestead in the valley. When it is 
stated that it cost $11,000 to construct it, it will be 
plain that it has no superior in the great valley. 

. The illustrations of the buildings are given as 
specimens of the numerous buildings now found 
standing in every section of the valley, both on the 
Levisa and Tug. 



Coal Industries. 



As FAR back as 1845 companies were formed 
in the North, and came to the Sandy Valley to 
mine the coal found in such abundance as to attract 
the attention of geologists and capitalists. One of 
the first to operate the mines on Sandy was an Ohio 
company with a Mr. Miles, a relative of the now 
great showman of that name, and Captain Milton 
Freese, with Mr. Robert Crutcher accompanying 
them. The company opened a mine a few miles 
above Prestonburg. Another company opened a 
mine still further up the river. Richard Deering, 
however, had built a mill at Abbott, some time 
before these other enterprises were started. He in- 
tended to mine coal ; but his enterprise was nipped 
in the bud, and was afterwards taken up by a 
Pennsylvania company, which spent considerable 
money, but after several years of struggling aban- 
doned the undertaking. William A. Foster, so 
well and favorably known at Catlettsburg, where 
he resided many years, first made his appearance 
on Sandy as store-keeper for the company. 

A company operated the mines at Hurricane, 
eighteen miles from the Mouth, and always had a 
good trade in its products. Many mines along the 



COAL INDUSTRIES. 309 

river have been worked for forty years to supply the 
local trade, and furnish steamers with the fuel to run 
them. Among these were McHenry's, six miles above 
Louisa; Daniel Wheeler's, just below Paintsville, 
and Judge Layne's noted field at Laynesville. 
None of the enterprises named ever brought a 
fortune to the owners or prosperity to the valley, 
though a few have furnished a living for the men 
working them. No doubt all of these men would 
have made money, but for lack of transportation 
and market. 



PEACH ORCHARD. 

The Peach Orchard Company rises above all 
other companies combined in the magnitude of busi- 
ness, largeness of undertaking, and carrying for- 
ward of improvements necessary to convey their 
coal to market. About 1847, George Carlisle 
(father of John Carlisle), R. B. Bowler, and other 
capitalists of Cincinnati, formed a company, and 
purchased a large tract of land lying on the east 
side of the Sandy River, forty miles above its 
mouth. The company proceeded at once to make 
preparations to open the mines, known by the 
natives to be of vast magnitude and of the most su- 
perior quality. In 1850 Mr. William B. Mellen, 
an Eastern gentleman of extensive business expe- 
rience and of great culture, came to Peach Orchard, 
and for eleven years had full superintendence of 



310 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

the works. The members of the company being 
liberal, and having full confidence in the judgment 
and ability of Mr. Mellen, gave him almost unlim- 
ited power to carry forward the business of the 
company. Cottages of a superior quality were 
erected out of lumber cut by a saw-mill first 
brought on the ground by the company. A grist- 
mill of fine construction was erected to grind wheat 
and corn to furnish bread for the people and prov- 
ender for the animals at the works. The farmers 
for twenty miles around availed themselves of the 
opportunity of taking their wheat to this mill 
for grinding, it being the first one erected 
in the Lower Sandy Valley that made better flour 
than a horse-mill. It also had a first-class card- 
ing-machine attached, which was extensively 
patronized. The mill was of the most advanced 
pattern of its day. Time and tide carried it away 
after it had so long served the threefold purpose 
for which it was built. The company had a large, 
well-constructed school-house put up, well pro 
vided with good seats and ventilation, and placed 
in charge an educated and Christian teacher, to 
train the children of the miners, and others on the 
ground, for useful lives. And, to crown all, a com- 
modious house of worship was erected, where God^s 
Word was expounded on the Sabbath. 

While mechanics were busy erecting the houses 
on the grounds, miners were equally busy in open- 
ing the mines ; and as soon as barges were made 



COAL INDUSTRIES. 311 

ready, the Peach Orchard coal was tipped into 
them, ready to be sent to market on the first rise of 
water in the Sandy sufficient to take them out. 

At that time not a cent had been spent to im- 
prove the navigation of the river. While small 
steamers could plow their way to Pikeville and re- 
turn for five or six months in the year, when it came 
to float down the obstructed stream great barges 
laden with black diamonds, it was a harder under- 
taking. But with this great drawback, the plucky 
company kept steadily persevering, Mr. Mellen so 
managing as to keep the company from sustaining 
serious loss. 

In 1859 the company invited Governor Floyd, 
who then owned the Warfield property on Tug, to 
join them in an effort to slack- water both rivers. 
Mr. Ledbetter, an experinced engineer from the 
Muskingum River improvements, attended the 
meeting at Peach Orchard and Catlettsburg, and 
reported the practicability of the proposition. Gov- 
ernor Floyd could not be present, but sent word 
that his desire was to have the work pushed forward. 
Before any thing could well be done, the clouds 
portending the most gigantic civil strife known to 
history appeared in the political horizon, checking 
all efforts to arrange for the work proposed. 

The last barge-load of coal was sent to market 
from Peach Orchard in the Spring of 1861. Soon 
after this, Mr. Mellen moved to Cincinnati with his 
family, and took a position in the Union army. It 



312 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

must have been with many regrets that he left his 
beautiful home at Peach Orchard, when it is re- 
membered that his house was equal to many of the 
suburban mansions of the Queen City, while his 
lawns and gardens were full of the finest shrubs, 
plants, and flowers, which had been transplanted 
from foreign climes to please the eye and refine the 
taste for the beautiful. Not only these evidences of 
culture, but a beautiful park stocked with native 
deer, afforded pleasure to the eye, and furnished 
juicy venison for the table. 

When Mr. Mellen went away, Henry Danby, 
an Englishman, who had come to the works when 
young, and faithfully performed the duties placed 
upon him in the subordinate positions he had filled 
under Mr. Mellen, was left in charge, to take care 
of the property, and run the mill and store, wait- 
ing the time when the works would again be 
started up. 

Mr. Danby, soon after the close of the war, be- 
came restive, and severed his connection with the 
company, going away with five thousand dollars or 
more, accumulated while in the company \s employ. 
He had failed to woo and marry when a young 
man, and soon after arriving in Cincinnati, 
he, like many other oldish men, married a girl less 
than half his own years. The match was 
unequal, and turned out badly. In about 1883 
Mr. Danby, broken down in health and showing 
signs of premature old age, came to Catlettsburg 



COAL INDUSTRIES. 313 

alone, and took passage on an up-going Sandy 
River steamer for Peach Orchard. He was put off 
at the landing of Gordon Burgess, whose daughter 
had long before married Chris. Neal, a chosen 
friend of his. On going up to Mr. Burgess's house 
he asked that he might be permitted to enter, and 
die. The family, with that kindness of heart for 
which they are noted, bade him come in and his 
wants should be supplied. For several weeks he 
lay at death's door, during which time the Burgess 
family, aided by Chris. Neal, his old-time friend, 
George S. Richardson, and others of Peach Orchard, 
furnished every thing necessary for his comfort 
while his life was ebbing away ; and when death 
came to the poor man's relief, those kind friends, 
who had so generously stood by him in sickness, 
gave his remains a decent Christian burial. Henry 
Danby's life was truly one of sunshine and shadows. 

GEORGE S. RICHARDSON. 

When Henry Danby quit the position he had 
held during the war, the company placed their af- 
fairs in the hands of George S. Richardson, a busi- 
ness man from Massachusetts. The great store of 
the company was conducted on a large scale under 
Mr. Richardson's superintendency, assisted by 
Andrew Butler, the father of Bascom Butler. The 
latter has risen to the honorable position of auditor 
of the Chatterawha Railroad. The mills of the 
company were kept in operation, grinding grain for 

27 



314 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



the farmers^ and while nothing was done to start anew 
the mining of the coal, the members of the company 
were casting about and maturing plans to construct a 
railroad from their coal-fields to the Ohio River. 
Mr. Richardson, the company's efficient agent, carried 

out his employers' 
suggest ions by 
creating a public 
sentiment in favor 
of the road. He 
often rode up and 
down the proposed 
line, talking with 
farmers on the 
route, telling them 
of the importance 
of a more speedy 
and certain transit 
to the outlaying 
GEO. s. RicHAKDsoN. couutry for them- 

selves and for the products of their farms. At 
Catlettsburg some opposition was manifested against 
the right of way through the town. This arose 
from the fact that several old citizens of the place 
had, about 1850, subscribed liberally to the build- 
ing of the E. L. and B. S. Road, on condition 
that the road should be built through the place, 
and had been compelled by the decisions of 
the courts to pay their subscriptions, although the 
road under the old company was never built. 




COAL INDUSTRIES. 315 

These subscriptions fell heavily on several parties 
of the Gate City, especially on the widow and heirs 
of John Culver, whose donation to the defunct 
company was about ten thousand dollars. But on 
a vote of the people, by a large majority, the right 
of way was granted the road to pass over the 
streets and alleys of the town. 

Ashland, wishing to have the road come within 
her borders, reached out her hand with great liber- 
ality, giving the right of way, Mr. David D. 
Geiger, a large real estate owner giving free pas- 
sage over his land. The wealthy capitalists of the 
city took stock in the road, and as the water in the 
Ohio River at Ashland is always of sufficient depth 
to afford a good pool for barges, Ashland became 
the Ohio terminus of the road. From Catlettsburg 
to Louisa there was but little opposition among the 
citizens against the road going over their farms. 

Louisa was more than liberal to the road. 
With Colonel Jay H. Northup, Judge M. J. Fer- 
guson, Judge John M. Rice, and other liberal men 
living there, it could not have been otherwise. 
But how to get beyond Louisa was the rub. From 
some mysterious cause a fearful opposition was 
manifested among the land-owners between Three 
Mile and George's Creek. They were opposed to 
letting the road pass by their doors, with depots 
and stations established at proper points, affording 
them so many conveniences. They cried, ^^Away with 
it ! Away with it V^ One wealthy gentleman went 



316 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

so far in his opposition as to give fifty dollars 
to have the road cross the Sandy three miles above 
Louisa, and take a roundabout course to the Peach 
Orchard coal-fields, the objective point of the road. 

Mr. Richardson, the company's agent, labored 
day and night to convince the people living on the 
route of the strong opposition, that they were 
working against their own interests in putting the 
company to an immense additional outlay, and at 
the same time driving the road from the best part 
of Lawrence County, to traverse one of greater 
distance, with but little to feed the road when 
finished. It is true the company might have sent 
their corps of engineers, with Colonel Forbes at 
the head, and laid out the road through the lands 
of the opposers, and afterwards sent a jury along 
the route to assess damages; but their patience was 
gone, and they at once adopted the Griffith's Creek 
route, cutting oif from advanced civilization the 
splendid country lying between Three Mile and 
George's Creek, the State road passing up from 
Louisa having fallen, since the building of the 
railroad, into a mere neighborhood passway, while 
all is life and activity on the route along Griffith's 
Creek, although the lands are poor. 

The road was at first commenced as a narrow 
gauge; but before completion the standard gauge 
was adopted, and when it was completed from Ash- 
land, on the Ohio River, to Peach Orchard, forty- 
five miles, in 1882, it was found to be one of the 



COAL INDUSTRIES. 317 

best constructed short-line roads in the country. 
The people living along the route of opposition 
now lament their short-sightedness in not welcom- 
ing the passage of the great civilizer by their 
doors, but feel that it is now too late to make 
amends for past errors. 

Mr. Richardson has held the office of vice-pres- 
ident of the road, and filled other places of trust 
and honor in the company. At present he is 
superintendent of the coal-mines which belong to 
the company. 

The Chatterawha Road is being extended from 
Richardson, named in honor of George S. Richard- 
son, ten miles above Peach Orchard, on the Sandy 
River, to White House, where is found one of the 
best fields of pure cannel-coal known in the State. 
The road will doubtless soon become a link in the 
great through line from Chicago to Charleston, and 
make the Sandy Valley one of the most prosperous 
regions of country to be found in the State. 

JOHN CARLISLE. 

A GREAT many men from other States and coun- 
tries have come to the Sandy, and by their coming 
have added wealth to the valley ; and to those men 
who have brought their energy, experience, and 
capital, the people at large owe much. But to no 
one do they owe as large a debt of gratitude as 
to John Carlisle, of Cincinnati. 

Mr. Carlisle, when a boy, had visited the Peach 



318 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Orchard Mines, in company with his father, who 
was in his life-time a principal owner. Young Car- 
lisle, although an only son, with great expectations 
of wealth by inheritance from a rich parentage, 
insisted on receiving an education which would 
specially prepare him for engineering and mining. 
Having his wishes respected by such a course in 
college, the bent of his youthful mind has ripened 
into full fruition in mature manhood. While he 
has had, and still has, large investments in rail- 
roads centering in his native city, and great ven- 
tures in the city of his birth and rearing, he has 
from boyhood looked upon the possiblities of 
the Sandy Valley with a devotion almost unpar- 
alleled. For nearly a quarter of a century his 
time has been freely given in pushing the improve- 
ments undertaken by his father and associates in 
days before the great Civil War, and carried since 
by himself. He has given of his means as freely as 
he has of his time to promote the same cause. 
And should the Chatterawha become a link in the 
great North-west and South-east through line, 
of which there is little doubt, his host of friends 
in the Sandy Valley hope to see him at the front 
of the great enterprise. 

CHATTERAWHA OR PEACH ORCHARD COAL. 

As SOON as the Chatterawha Road was open to 
Peach Orchard, it was taxed to its utmost to pro- 
vide transportation for the Peach Orchard coal, 



COAL INDUSTRIES. 319 

which had already gained a high reputation as one 
of the best articles in the country. 

ASHLAND, KENTUCKY, 

The Ohio terminus of the road^ has been greatly 
quickened into fresh life by this new feeder of her 
great industries. 

CATLETTSBURG, KENTUCKY, 

The natural Gate into the Sandy Valley, with tlie 
Sandy River pouring into her lap the trade of the 
Upper Sandy, would have quivered under the blow 
had the road passed some other way than through 
her borders. The Chatterawha Road has added 
greatly in increasing the sales of her wholesale 
stores and numerous industries. 

LOUISA 

Immediately felt the quickening power, and put 
on city airs, with city business to back her up. 
The most ornate and well-aranged court-house and 
clerk's offices in Eastern Kentucky now grace 
Louisa, resulting from the building of the road. 
Two superb churches have been added, to lead 
her people heavenward, while a splendid flour-mill, 
on the roller principle, is added to her industries. 
Mechanical shops have increased, and, although 
stores have sprung into existence all over the 
county, the merchants of Louisa make larger 
sales than ever before. Every hamlet through which 



820 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



the road passes has quickened and started out on a 
more prosperous career, while small industries have 
sprung up all along the line, from Ashland to 
Richardson. 

These are only a small part of what may be 
expected when the road is pushed on up the valley. 

COLONEL JAY H. NORTHUP, 

From the first, has been a director of the road, 
and few men did more to encourage, by his wise 

counsel, and by 
contributing his 
means to carry 
the enterprise to 
completion, and 
when it became 
necessary to ap- 
point a receiver 
and general 
manager to con- 
duct the affairs 
of the corpora- 
tion. Colonel 
Northup was, of 
all others, called 
upon to fill the place. The position was a delicate 
one, requiring great business talent, integrity, and 
moral principles to satisfy both the owners and 
creditors of the road. But the colonel has satisfied 
all parties of his ability and trustworthiness to 




COIiONEL JAY H. NORTHUP. 



COAL INDUSTRIES. 321 

fill this position, which was unsought by him. 
Captain Joseph Mitchell, who had much ex- 
perience in procuring right of way for other roads, 
was a very forceful factor in drawing the line of 
the road on the Kentucky side of the Sandy River, 
having to contend against Hon. C. B. Hoard, an 
extensive real estate owner of Ceredo, West Vir- 
ginia, who held out strong inducements to have the 
Ohio River terminus at that point. Colonel Hoard^s 
efforts were ably seconded by Judge M. J. Fer- 
guson, who preferred the West Virginia route to 
the Ohio. Mr. Mitchell did valuable service to the 
people of Ashland and Catlettsburg in battling for 
the Kentucky line. 

It is proper to state that the owners of the 
Peach Orchard coal-fields did not build the road 
without other aid. Outside parties took a gener- 
ous amount of stock in the enterprise. But, after 
all, the road would not have been constructed had 
not the coal company moved first in the matter. 
Colonel S. R. Forbes, the engineer, who laid out 
the road to the great tunnel, is back at the head 
of the corps, and is as proud of his work as a 
mother is of her first-born; yet the Chatterawha is 
by no means Mr. Forbes's first work in railroad 
engineering. 



Sandy Valley Timber Trade. 



Many old men still lingering on the shores of 
time claim the honor of cutting and conveying to 
market the first raft of saw-logs from the Sandy 
Valley. It can not be stated with any degree of 
accuracy who started the trade in timber which has 
grown to such gigantic proportions. The Ratcliffs, 
the Williamsons, the Weddingtons, the Meads, the 
Borderses, the Prestons, the Gar reds, the Hamp- 
tons, the Leslies, the Auxiers, the Mayos, the 
Burgesses, the Justices, the Bevinses, and others, 
were at an early day engaged in the timber trade. 

The trade in timber on the Sandy was a small 
affair until 1840, when it began to assume great 
magnitude, and continued to grow rapidly. By 
1850 the number of logs cut and carried to market 
had annually quadrupled in number, and had con- 
siderably increased in price. In 1860, just preced- 
ing the commencement of the Civil War, the run 
in timber had increased fourfold since 1850. From 
1861 to 1865, inclusive, the trade almost entirely 
ceased, save in furnishing timber for gunboats. In 
1866 the cutting and running of timber to market 
received a wonderful impetus. This was owing to 
the greatly increased demand for lumber to supply 



SANDY VALLEY TIMBER TRADE, 323 

the lack caused by four years devoted to destruc- 
tive war. The timber trade in the valley was 
greatly pushed, and, in fact, boomed, by Samuel S. 
Vinson and Brothers. 

Colonel Jay H. Northup, a wide-awake New 
Yorker, who came to Louisa on the wave of the 
oil excitement in the Sandy Valley, was wise 
enough to see the great possibilities in the timber 
traffic ; he formed a partnership with M. B. Goble, 
and, like the firm of Vinson Brothers, prosecuted 
the business with great vigor. 

Captain O. C. Bowles, an Ohio man of broad 
business views, had the sagacity, supposed to be 
possessed by all enlightened men of that great 
State, to see the great opening for enlargement in 
the timbering trade in the Upper Sandy Valley, 
and embarked with great energy in the enterprise. 
He subsequently laid down tramways to reach his 
forests, and brought the timber to the Sandy River 
on trucks drawn by a locomotive. An amusing 
incident occurred in running the locomotive, which 
is remarkable in not terminating in a tragedy. 
The captain came down to Catlettsburg, and hired 
an old railroad engineer to take charge of his loco- 
motive. On reaching the road he placed him on 
the snorting horse. The owner hoped for good; 
but with lightning speed the train rolled on. The 
owner and all hands were in great fright. The 
captain remonstrated with the man of the valve ; 
but the engineer said that it was none of the cap- 



324 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

tain's business; that he was put in charge and 
held himself responsible for the loss of life and 
property. The train by force was stopped. The 
jfirst impulse of Captain Bowles was to knock 
the man down ; but he thought it undignified to 
engage in a fight with an employe, and instead dis- 
charged him from his service. The man wended 
his way to Catlettsburg, and by his eccentric ways 
was discovered to be non compos mentis^ and was 
taken by his wife to the home of their people in 
an Eastern State, where the unfortunate lunatic, 
a year or so after, died of softening of the brain. 
It is thrilling to think of a lunatic in charge of an 
engine on a railroad track. 

Besides the firms named, there were many other 
men, natives of Big Sandy, who rose to the occasion 
of the timber boom after the war, and entered with 
great spirit in the tempting traffic. Wallace J. 
Williamson, Mont. Lawson, Butler Ratliff, the 
Prestons of Paintsville, the Mayos, the Beviuvses, 
the Leslies, Sam Keel, Levi Atkins, Bill David, 
Garred RatlifF, Captain William Bartram, and, 
before him, his father, James Bartram, James A. 
Abbott, and many others, became heavy handlers 
of timber. 

From the earliest period of running timber, it 
was bought from the producer at Catlettsburg by 
individuals and firms formed for that purpose ; yet 
meanwhile much, if not most, of it was run to the 
markets on the Ohio River by the first owners. 



SANDY VALLEY TIMBER TRADE. 325 

and sold on their own account. Among the most 
noted of the pioneer timber buyers at the Mouth 
were William and Levi J. Hampton, David D. 
Geiger, Hansford H. Kinner, John Meek, John 
Creed Burks, and some others; in fact, Mordecai 
M. Williams should be classed with the old-time 
buyers, although Mr. Williams is not an old-time 
man. He was a mere stripling of a boy when he 
entered the field as a dealer in the great product 
of the Sandy Valley. 

By 1875 to 1880 the trade had grown so great 
that firms representing heavier capital began to be 
formed at Catlettsburg. The earliest of these firms 
to go into the business there was Vinson, Goble & 
Prichard, consisting of Sam'l S. Vinson, M. B. Goble, 
and Robert H. Prichard. They made a new depart- 
ure in the manner of conducting the business. For- 
merly no system of book-keeping was used in re- 
cording the transactions of buying and selling, but 
each member or individual would keep a memo- 
randum of the business done for the season, and 
then call on some one supposed to be competent 
to settle up, and strike the dividend due each 
member. This firm believed that whatever was 
worth doing was worth doing well. So the first 
thing they did was to erect a suitable building, 
and fix it up with every convenience for an office 
in which to transact their business. They procured 
all necessary books and stationery to record and 
journalize the business, over which they placed 



326 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

that model accountant and book-keeper, George B. 
Patton, an expert in the science, who, although in- 
terested with his two brothers in a large whole- 
sale manufacturing and commercial business in 
town, knowing that his interest would continue safe 
in their hands, was induced by a large salary to ac- 
cept the place. Williamson & Hampton immediately 
followed suit in the same line, and placed their 
books and office in charge of George J. Dickseid, 
an ubiquitous Ohio man, who left the management 
of a large dry-goods establishment to assume the 
responsibility of the new field of figures, and well 
sustains his reputation as a correct accountant and 
book-keeper. 

All other firms now dealing in timber have an 
office, and a book-keeper to do the writing and make 
the calculations incident to the buying and selling 
of the timber and lumber passing through their 
hands. This new departure has been of untold 
benefit to both buyer and seller. Many a dollar 
has gone to its proper place, whereas before a set- 
tlement was only guess-work ; and many an ex- 
pensive lawsuit has been avoided by the new method 
of doing business inaugurated by Vinson, Goble & 
Prichard. 

The amount of money paid out annually at 
Catlettsburg for timber and lumber has risen from 
an insignificant sum in 1840 to $1,500,000 in 1886, 
the quantity of timber run and its cash value in- 
creasing year by year. 



SANDY VALLEY TIMBER TRADE. 327 

The manuer of running the logs to the markets 
below on the Ohio River has changed as greatly 
as have the methods of buying. Formerly about 
twenty rafts were strung together, called a fleet, 
and guided and pushed by men. Now most of the 
timber is towed down by means of tow-boats, some 
of the boats owned by Catlettsburg timber-dealers. 

The timber supply seems to be as prolific as it 
was a quarter of a century ago. Then the owners 
of timber-land were constantly giving out that 
timber was getting very scarce ; but, for all that, 
.the supply grows greater and better as the years 
roll on. 



Big Sandy Newspapers. 



In 1852 a printer by the name of Smith came 
to Catlettsburg, and started the first newspaper 
ever published in the Sandy Valley. The editor 
was no less a personage than Rev. E. C. Thornton. 
The paper was neutral in politics, although Mr. 
Thornton was an unflinching Democrat. It was 
called the Big Sandy Neivs. It was published less 
than two years, and suspended for lack of patron- 
age. The Sandy Valley Advocate was the next 
venture in the newspaper business on Sandy. 
James J. Miller, who came to the Sandy country 
under the auspices of Governor Floyd, established 
the Sandy Valley Advocate at Catlettsburg in 1859. 
Mr. Miller was a bright man and a spicy writer, 
and made the Advocate a very readable paper. It 
was the pioneer in the line of newspapers in the 
valley in advocating the development of the hidden 
wealth of minerals known to exist in the Sandy 
country. The paper had a good circulation, and 
the largest advertising patronage ever held by any 
paper in the valley. It was said to be neutral in 
politics; but as the editor was a Whig poli- 
tician, the paper leaned considerably that way. 



BIG SANDY NEWSPAPERS. 329 

Mr. Miller was employed by the Government 
soon after the Civil War commenced, and gave up 
the paper. 

The Herald was the next paper to occupy the 
field. Charles D. Corey, a very amiable and brill- 
iant young man, a New Yorker, bought the outfit 
used by the Advocatej and ventured on the Herald 
in 1863. Mr. Cory Avas a Democrat, and made his 
paper at first mildly Democratic; but as it grew in 
age it also grew to be a stalwart Democratic organ, 
even in time of the war. Mr. Corey was a genius ; he 
was a photographer, printer, poet, painter, and a 
good prose writer. He made a good pa23er. He 
married a beautiful young lady of Grayson — Miss 
Lucy Lewis, the daughter of Hon. Nelums Lewis. 
But the married life of the handsome pair was cut 
short by the death of the husband, whose physical 
nature was almost ethereal, so delicate.- was he. 
The young, loving wife would not be comforted 
after her "Charley^s'^ death, and she soon joined 
him in the " land of pure delight.^^ The connubial 
love of this beautiful couple for each other was 
more than human. 

The Herald, after the death of its gifted 
founder, was continued by H. M. Bond. Soon 
after, the Rev. Z. Meek, who had meanwhile started 
the Christian Observer, which was several years 
later changed to the Central Methodist, joined him 
in the printing business under the name of the 
"• Herald Printing Company.'' The combination 

28 



330 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

thus formed by Meek and Bond ran on success- 
fully until 1872, when the junior partner bought 
the entire outfit, abandoned the Herald, and gave 
all of his energy and talents to building up the 
Central Methodist, a religious paper second to none 
of its class in the State in circulation and in the 
ability with which it is edited. 

Colonel Rees M. Thomas, in the latter part of 
the year 1865, commenced the publication of the 
Catlettsburg Tribune, an eight-column, four-page 
weekly. It was ably edited, and a bright, newsy 
sheet. It was intensely Republican in politics, but 
dignified in its utterances. It suspended in less 
than three years after it was launched on the sea 
of political journalism. The editor married Adie, 
daughter of Rev. E. C. Thornton, who started into 
life the first paper ever published in Catlettsburg. 
Colonel Thomas moved to Texas some time after 
the paper suspended, where he now is, engaged in 
the newspaper business. His wife has been dead 
several years. 

After the Herald and Tribune ceased to live, 
several other papers were started, none, however, 
of more than ephemeral existence. Judge Lewis 
started one, and one George Swap, another; but as 
neither bloomed out into full life and usefulness, 
we pass them by, not forgetting the Enquirer, pub- 
lished for about six months in 1874 by Colonel 
Samuel Pike, the veteran newspaper man, who had 
founded, and for a time, successfully edited and 



BIG SANDY NEWSPAPERS. 331 

published over thirty Democratic papers, alternat- 
ing between four States. He advocated in the col- 
umns of the Enquirer the claims of George N. 
Brown against W. C. Ireland for judge. The Eii- 
quirer was the grand old veteran's last newspaper 
venture. Like a w^agon long in use, he went down 
all at once. He returned to his home in Ohio to 
engage in mercantile pursuits; but, instead, the 
messenger of death suddenly summoned him from 
earth, and he ceased to work and live at once. He 
was a strong and bitter partisan writer; but, poli- 
tics aside, no man had a kindlier heart or more 
lovable nature than Samuel Pike. 

R. C. Burns, some time in the seventies, pub- 
lished the Index, a monthly, devoted to the sale of real 
estate. It was a bright little sheet of its class, but 
soon retired from the field. 

In 1881 the Monthly Progress appeared; its 
purpose was to advocate the development of the 
great material wealth of the valley. The circulation 
ran up to three thousand copies monthly. The 
paper was owned and edited by the author of this 
book. 

The Weekly Progress took the place of the 
monthly in 1882, and disappeared in 1884, under 
the same management until the latter six months 
of its existence, when R. C. Burns owned and con- 
ducted it. Having a large law practice, he gave up its 
publication, greatly to the regret of the Republican 
party, of whose principles it was a strong advocate. 



332 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

We have overleaped ourself in not noticing the 
Kentucky Democrat, which was established by Cap- 
tain T. D. Marcnm in 1878. This paper at once 
took a high rank in Kentucky journalism, and 
soon attained to the largest subscription list ever 
carried by any political paper in the Sandy Valley ; 
and perhaps few outside the valley surpass it in these 
particulars. It continues to grow in influence, and 
is still edited by its founder, who has shown great 
ability in conducting a weekly paper. 

The Advance was founded by Howes & Borders 
at Paintsville in 1880, and after nine months was 
moved to Louisa, Howes dropping out as partner, 
and Borders, in 1881, establishing the Chatterawha 
News, a very bright and newsy sheet. Both papers 
were non-political. 

In about 1882 or 1883 Messrs. C. M. Parsons 
and W. M. Conley founded the Pikeville Enterpi'ise, 
and conducted it with ability for several years. It 
was a very decided Democratic paper. Mr. Pherigo 
succeeded them, and perhaps some one else had a 
hand in its publication. About 1886 J. Lee Fer- 
guson, a bright young lawyer, bought out the 
material, and is now publishing the Times, a Re- 
publican paper there. 

In 1883, E. M. Weddington and J. K. Leslie, two 
able lawyers started the Banner at Prestonburg, a 
Democratic paper of great ability. It did not ex- 
ist two years, however. About a year after, Joe H. 
Borders' Chatterawha News suspended at Louisa. 



BIG SANDY NEWSPAPERS. 333 

Professor Lyttleton founded the Lmvrenee Index, a 
Democratic sheet, which he edited with ability until 
about 1885. He sold out to Ferguson and Conley, 
who changed the name, first to the Times, and 
afterwards to the News, still, however, continuing it 
as a Democratic organ. Mr. Ferguson is a gifted 
son of Hon. M. J. Ferguson, and his partner is the 
son of Asa Conley, a representative of an old-time 
Sandy house — on his mother's side was a Leslie, a 
family as noted as any in the valley. 



War Meeting. 



In the early part of the Winter of 1860 and '61, 
at the instance of Kellean Verplanck Whaley, or, 
as he was generally called, " Cal. Whaley,'' an in- 
vitation was sent out to the men of North-eastern 
Kentucky, North-western Virginia, and Middle 
Southern Ohio, to meet at Catlettsburg and com- 
pare notes respecting the great agitation, then al- 
ready commenced, which led to the greatest war 
the world had ever witnessed. 

When the day arrived for the assemblage of the 
men of three States, the town was overrun with 
delegates from the three States mentioned, and a 
gentleman from Indiana being present, he was in- 
vited to take a seat with his brethren who had 
come up to consult together about the threatened 
break-down of the Government of the fathers of 
1776. Many able and distinguished men were in 
attendance, and they were the most earnest set of 
men that ever assembled in the town. 

The meeting was held in the large frame 
Church ; but so vast was the crowd that the lawn 
surrounding the building, as well as the streets 
near by, was one sea of people. Alonzo Cushing, 



WAR MEETING. 335 

of Gallipolis, Ohio, a brother of Dr. Z. Gushing, 
formerly of Lawrence County, Ky., was made 
chairman, and presided with great ability. He 
made an able speech on taking the chair; but it 
was entirely destitute of point, adroitly avoiding the 
main issue before the people of the whole country. 
Captain D. K. Weise, now postmaster at Ashland, 
was one of the secretaries. 

The principal speakers at the gathering were 
D. K. Weise, of Kentucky; Dr. Patrick, of Kan- 
awha Valley, Virginia; Judge Johnson, who re- 
cently died at Ironton; Dr. Jonathan Morris, of 
the same place; Kellean Verplanck Whaley, of 
Wayne County, Va., and Dr. J. D. Kincaid, of 
Catlettsburg. 

All the speakers living south of the Ohio de- 
nounced both secession and coercion alike. Dr. 
Morris and Judge Johnson, both of Ironton, con- 
tended that the Government had the power and 
right to put down by force of arms all who rose 
against it, whether foreign or domestic foes. Mr. 
Whaley, of Wayne County, Va., made the most 
pointed speech of any. He said, in reply to Judge 
Johnson, that should the Northern hordes under- 
take to coerce their Southern brethren, the men of 
Wayne County, Virginia, would rally from every 
hill and valley with bayonets gleaming in the sun- 
light, to welcome them to inhospitable graves. 
Yet this same Kellean Verplanck Whaley told the 
author, in the Spring of 1864, that President Lin- 



336 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

coin was too conservative to be trusted further, 
and that a radical, like Wade or Chase, should suc- 
ceed to the Presidency in the coming Fall. Mr. 
Whaley was a politician living on the Virginia 
Point when the war came on. In politics he was 
one-third Whig, one-third Native American, and one- 
third Democrat, but more Whaley than all together. 

In the Summer of 1861, under the management 
of that most shrewd of political managers and 
brainy men, Levi J. Hampton, of Catlettsburg, Cal. 
Whaley was elected to the United States Congress 
from the Wayne County (Virginia) District, re- 
ceiving all the votes cast which were less than 
three hundred. He took his seat, and was, after 
two years, returned to Congress, serving, in all, 
four years. He made quite a good showing as a 
member. Mr. Whaley settled in Point Pleasant, 
West Virginia, after he retired from Congress, 
and published a newspaper. He has been dead 
many years. 

The meeting at Catlettsburg, perhaps, did neither 
good nor harm; for every one engaged in its coun- 
sels was at sea, without chart or compass. 



Thrilling Incidents. 



In 1811 Ed. Osburn, a large farmer owning 
slaves, was in debt, and his negroes were levied on 
by the sheriff of Floyd County to satisfy an execu- 
tion. The sheriff, David Morgan, and his son, a 
deputy, being near the residence of Samuel David- 
son with the slaves, was overtaken by Osburn, who 
killed Morgan and his son in cold blood. Escaping, 
he was not heard from for over forty years, when 
an old Sandian, passing through South-eastern 
Ohio, saw and recognized the double murderer. 
Osburn denied his identity at first, but, when 
pressed, piteously begged the venerable Sandian 
never to divulge his whereabouts till after his 
death. During the whole time he had lived within 
two hundred and fifty miles, on a straight line, of 
the place where he had committed the atrocious 
crime. 

THAT TELL-TALE COAT. 

In 1858 George P. Archer, of Mercer County, 
Va., came to the mouth of Bear Creek, now Rock- 
ville, Lawrence County, Ky., and obtained work 
as a farm-hand. He brought with him a jeans coat 

29 



338 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

of unusual woof and make, which seemed never to 
grow older. Archer, by his economical habits, had 
saved up enough money to join Dr. J. F. Hatton 
in a partnership in a general store at Bear Creek, 
in about 1864. In 1867, in January, Archer mar- 
ried a beautiful sister of his partner. She is now 
the wife of Ralph Booton, Esq., of Prestonburg. 
In April of the same year Hatton, the senior part- 
ner, went to Cincinnati with bark, where he re- 
mained some time. While gone, late one night, a 
man called at Hatton's house, saying to Mrs. Hat- 
ton, who was awakened by his raps on the door, 
that three raftsmen had landed in to get some to- 
bacco. She told them to go to the store, where 
Archer slept that night, his wife having gone over 
to Round Bottom to visit her relatives. They, in 
a patronizing voice, called Archer up, repeating 
what they had told Mrs. Hatton. The fated man 
came down stairs in his night-clothes and handed 
them the tobacco. The men then concluded to buy of 
every thing freely, and soon three large sacks were 
filled and tied up, when one of the robbers (for 
such they were) demanded money. Archer, on 
reaching under the counter for his pistol, was rid- 
dled by bullets fired by the men. One of the men 
ran up-stairs to search the victim^s clothes for 
money, but hearing what he took to be the sound 
of footsteps approaching, he grabbed a coat hanging 
on the bed-post, and scampered away, followed by 
his cronies. As Archer failed to be at breakfast 



THAT TELL-TALE COAT. 339 

next morning, and the store was closed, the door 
was pushed open, and Archer was found cold in 
death. 

Archer was a man every body liked, and his 
tragic death created intense excitement. Suspected 
parties were arrested, and turned loose, no evidence 
appearing against them. But soon Archer's wife 
remembered the jeans coat, and that it could no- 
where be found. Hope revived that the tell-tale 
garment would lead to the apprehension of the 
murderers. Men went everywhere to spy out the 
coat. At this juncture an old woman living on 
Cat's Fork sent Avord to the people at the mouth 
of Bear Creek that on the evening of the tragic 
murder Bill Wright and Jim and John Lyons 
stopped at her house, and told her they were on 
their way to the mouth of Bear Creek to rob a 
store, and that early next morning they returned 
with a large amount of booty, and stopped and got 
breakfast, dividing much of the property with her. 
Almost simultaneously with the old woman's story 
the coat was seen on Jim Lyons's back. He was 
arrested with the fatal coat, and taken to Louisa. 
John Lyons was soon found in Greenup County, 
and brought to Louisa. 

The governor had offered a reward for Bill 
Wright, who was believed to be skulking about in 
the Little Sandy country. In a few days he 
stepped into the store of Jack Allen, a brave mount- 
aineer in Magoffin County, and Allen, seeing that 



340 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

he answered the published description, at once cov- 
ered him with his pistol and brought him to Louisa. 

The three were put in irons, and the jail \vas 
guarded to prevent escape. The mountains were 
full of desperadoes, engendered by the opportunities 
of the war, the courts and society not having fully 
resumed their normal condition. News went out 
that a lot of cut-throats, friends of the accused, were 
soon to move on Louisa, and liberate the villains. 
No reasonable person doubted the guilt of the men. 
At the preliminary trial the coat was a swift wit- 
ness, and the old lady aforementioned brought into 
court the goods the robbers had given to her, 
which were proven to be the goods of Hatton and 
Archer. Archer's friends concluded that there was 
danger in delay, and one hundred and fifty of them, 
embracing the best men of the lower part of Law- 
rence County, Ky., and Wayne County, West Va., 
without any disguise, rode into Louisa, ordered a 
gallows erected, dispersed the guard at the jail, 
forced the jailer to surrender the keys, and brought 
out the prisoners, telling them to prepare for death, 
for that within a few hours they must die. 

Judge M. J. Ferguson and Rev. J. F. Medley 
pleaded hard that the law be allowed to take its 
course. The mob listened, but went on with the 
preparations. The criminals spent most of their 
time in making sensational confessions, each one 
claiming to be less guilty than the other two, 
neither one denying the crime. 



THA T TELL- TALE CO A T. 341 

At about three o'clock P. M., every thing being 
ready, a road-wagon was driven under the gallows, 
and the criminals were made to ascend into it. 
They were then asked to say what they might de- 
sire ; but as recriminating lies were being passed 
among the wretches, the men in charge of the execu- 
tion, sickening at their profanity, ordered the wagon 
to move, and the murderers were quickly suspended 
between the heavens and the earth. When dead, 
the bodies were cut down and buried, and the mob 
left town in as orderly a manner as it had entered. 

Bill Wright was forty-eight years old. He en- 
listed in the Confederate army, but soon deserted, 
and turned thief and robber. Jim Lyons was 
thirty-five years old, and served two years in the 
5th Virginia, Union army, but deserted, and ever 
after colleagued with Bill Wright. John Lyons 
was only eighteen years old, but, according to his 
own confession, the world has lost nothing by his 
death. The men composing the mob were indicted, 
but the governor pardoned them all. . 

Mobs are illegal, and should be frowned down 
by all good citizens ; but no one doubts the right- 
eousness of the fate of Bill Wright and Jim and 
John Lyons. 



Fires in Catlehsburg. 

[continued.] 

From tlie coming of Sawney Catlett, in 1808 
or thereabout, down to July 22, 1878, no wide- 
spread conflagration had ever fallen on the place. 
Fires had at different times broken out, and single 
dwellings, shops, stables, or outhouses had been 
consumed, but had always been extinguished, or 
ceased further ravage for lack of adjoining build- 
ings to spread the flames. The town authorities 
were both unable and unwilling to provide either 
a fire-engine or a ladder and bucket company, to 
buffet with the flames, should they be put in 
motion by some unforeseen cause. 

In all alarms given of fire, no people could 
have responded to the call with greater unanimity 
or alacrity than did the population of Catletts- 
burg; for not only would stalwart men rush to 
the rescue, bucket, ladder, or ax in hand, but 
women and children were often first to appear on 
the scene of danger, to add a mite toward extin- 
guishing the flames which threatened the de- 
struction of the houses of the place, dearer to them 
than any spot on earth. For nearly a generation 
fires occurred, either at short or long intervals, 
doing, it is true, but slight damage to property, 



FIRES IN CATLETTSBURO. 343 

entailing but a small loss on some one only, who if 
not able to stand the loss alone, was helped by the 
charitably inclined. 

As no one had badly suffered by a fire in the 
place, although the buildings generally were of 
wood, and many were mere fire-traps, the inhabit- 
ants had somehow fallen into a state of false se- 
curity, and expected, or at least hoped, that the 
same good fortune would continue to fall to their 
lot. But the hope proved delusive in the end. A 
bitter day came when none expected it. A repose 
of many months, in which no fire-bug had kindled 
a flame in any building in the place, had led the 
inhabitants to believe their property was safe from 
the incendiary torch, or the accident that kindles a 
spark that burns up great cities, as well as small 
towns. This hope was scattered to the winds. 

On the 22d of July, 1877, at just twelve 
o^cloek, noon, the alarm was sounded that Peter 
Paul Schauer^s bakery on South Front Street, was 
on ^' fire.'' Scores then repeated the fearful little 
monosylable. Dinner-bells continued ringing after 
their usual call for dinner, while the large church- 
bells pealed forth in louder tones, warning the 
people of approaching danger. Above the hoarse 
voices of the people and loud ringing of dinner 
and church bells, the whistle at every mill and 
factory screamed shrilly, like some wild monster 
raising his voice above the clamor of pande- 
monium. The noise was terrific, equaled only by 



344 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

the sight of the towering blaze from the burning 
building. Two minutes after the alarm was given, 
the streets and alleys approaching the ill-fated 
house were a surging mass of terror-stricken hu- 
manity. One look from even the least practiced 
was sufficiently convincing that no human aid, with- 
out the immediate help of a fire-engine, could quench 
the flames and save the building. 

The fire had burst through the brick chimney 
or stack of the bakery, and had set the house to 
burning, inside and outside, near the roof. It was 
a two-story frame and as dry^ as powder. Before 
any one could form or express an opinion as to the 
best thing to do under the circumstances, seeing 
they had no fire-engine, the fire was spreading to 
other buildings. All hands, including young ladies 
and elderly matrons, the fairest of Catlettsburg's 
womanhood, almost instinctively betook themselves 
to saving the goods, merchandise, and household 
effects of the people whose houses lay in the range 
of the devouring element. 

The day was not only intensely hot, but not a 
breath of air stirred sufficient to put in motion the 
down on a gossamer-plant; yet the flames and 
smoke caused an artificial motion that propelled the 
fire from the river backward. So rapid was the 
spread of the flames that in two hours from the first 
alarm, all the buildings, from the foot of Main 
Street to Center, thence to Louisa, and onward to 
Clay Street, were a mass of ruins, or were fiercely 



FIRES IN CA TLETTSB URG. 345 

burning, save only the dwelling of Mrs. Alex. 
Botts ; thence to South Front Street, on Sandy, and 
down to Main. A cordon of men, with blankets, 
carpets, quilts, etc., was formed on Main Street, op- 
posite the burning houses, and all the way up to 
Clay Street, who, by keeping the cloths saturated 
with water, prevented the wild flames from reach- 
ing across the avenues named, and firing the build- 
ings on the opposite side. 

Within an hour and ten minutes after the fire 
had started on its Avild career, farmers living two 
miles below Catlettsburg in Ohio had hurried over 
the river with their teams, to assist in hauling 
goods, merchandise, and household plunder to 
places of safety. ^ ^ 

By three o^clock P. M. all was in ruins. The 
people, or all save a very few left on guard, retired 
to partake of refreshments, the first since breakfast, 
while many of them had no food, nor house in 
which to eat it if they had the food, having lost 
all, every thing but their lives and energy ; yet God 
is the Father of all, and every man is a brother. 
No one returned to look again upon the awful 
wreck and ruin caused by the fire-fiend that had 
not partaken of food to his full satisfaction. Those 
who were not burned out fed their brethren in dis- 
tress out of their larders with a heartiness so lib- 
eral as to show the true principles of benevolence 
and charity. 

Great occasions bring out great deeds. Hu- 



346 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

manity was touched by the great stroke. The wail 
of distress from the sufferers affected all the family 
of man dwelling in the place. All felt stricken. 
All suffered directly or through the sympathetic 
touch. Catlettsburg people, w^ho were not material 
losers by the fire, most nobly dispensed their 
charity in tokens the most substantial. 

But Catlettsburg people were not alone in their 
deeds of charity at this period of sore distress; 
for before five o^clock P. M. had been measured by 
the sun's steady tread, Ashland, through a delega- 
tion of her generous citizens, had sent up large 
stores of food, clothing, bedding, and general 
household goods, and established a commissary 
near the burnt district, from which supplies were 
furnished to those who had lost all or had suffered 
by the great fire. The Ashland store was kept 
open night and day for more than a week, from 
which every one who asked was assisted, without 
money or price. 

When gratitude is no longer held as a cardinal 
virtue as well as grace, Catlettsburg will forget the 
noble charity bestowed upon her stricken children 
by Ashland's generous sons and daughters, but not 
before. 

A few days after the fire took place the board 
of trustees of the town passed an ordinance that 
no wooden houses should be erected on that part 
of the burnt district lying between Main, Center, 
Louisa, and Franklin Streets, and the Sandy and 



FIRES IN CA TLETTSB VRG, 347 

Ohio Rivers, a space covering at least four-fifths 
of that burned over by the fire. Nine-tenths of the 
houses consumed were of wooden material, and the 
town board was morally bound to legislate as far 
as possible to provide against a future calamity like 
the one just passed. They provided, by solemn 
ordinance, that ever after no frame or other wooden 
building should be erected on the burnt district, 
except that part lying above Franklin Street. The 
ordinance, no doubt, worked hardships to a very 
few, but that it was a wise measure, calculated to 
advance the private interests of the many and re- 
dound to the great benefit of the general public at 
large, no one whose opinion is valuable has seriously 
doubted. The block upon block of palatial brick 
structures built since the fire, covering four-fifths 
of the ground burned over, is a standing proof 
that the Fire-line Ordinance, as it is called, was 
passed none too soon. 

There was sadness in the hearts of the people 
as they viewed the ruins spread out in hot ashes 
and burning cinders before their smoke-swollen 
eyes. But they were buoyed up with the hope 
that a brighter day would dawn upon them. And 
with this hope to cheer them onward to activity, 
many had planned in their minds at least to build 
again as soon as the ashes could be cleared away. 
This determination was entertained by many before 
sleep came to their eyes after the great fire. 

Where to obtain brick with which to lay the 



348 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

walls, was tlie problem to be solved by every one. 
Home supply had never been good, nor even suf- 
ficient for ordinary demands. Now many were 
wanted, and few to supply the great demand. Cap- 
tain Honshell, in three days after the conflagration, 
solved the problem to the satisfaction of nearly all 
who wanted to build. Representing his son, Gus. 
Honshell, and James W. Damron, doing business 
on Front Street as Damron & Honshell, he con- 
tracted with the Messrs. Blair, of Cincinnati, to 
furnish brick from that place, and to lay them in 
the walls at a less sum than had been thought 
possible by even home builders; and the material 
was greatly superior. 

That stroke of Captain Honshell opened the 
way to all who wished to commence at once to 
build. In a very few days most of the spacious 
brick structures adorning Front and Division 
Streets were under contract. The merchants were 
permitted to erect temporary store-houses in which 
to transact business while their permanent houses 
were going up. Ten days after the fire all was life 
and bustle. Only during the timber-running season 
and in war times had Catlettsburg shown so much 
business life and activity as during the building 
period after the great fire. The great buildings 
went up as if by magic. By the 1st of January 
nearly all had moved into their new quarters, and 
were doing well. In fact, they had a splendid 
trade while in their temporary buildings. 



NEW ENTERPRISES AFTER THE FIRE. 349 

The usual Winter trade being followed by an 
extra Spring and Summer boom placed Catletts- 
burg's merchants and business men in as good 
financial shape as before the fire; perhaps better. 
Especially was this true of those who had been 
prudent enough to carry even a minimum of 
insurance in proportion to their loss by the 
great fire. Thus in a year after this calamity, 
Catlettsburg was richer in all of the elements of 
substantial wealth than ever before. Of course 
there were cases where men, well stricken in years, 
or with broken health, or with some other draw-back, 
fell out of business line^ and either disappeared 
from public view, or linger still in poverty's vale. 

The losses by the fire were : two drug-stores, 
two hardware stores, two jewelry-stores, one fancy 
store, two shoe-stores, one clothing and custom- 
work store, five hotels, two saddle and harness 
shops, one leather and shoe finding store, two 
bakeries, one artist's gallery, two tin and stove 
stores, every grocery in town but one, six dry-goods 
stores, most of the lawyers' and other offices in the 
place. Masonic and Odd Fellows halls and regalia, 
and sixty dwellings. 



NEW ENTERPRISES AFTER THE FIRE. 

From the coming of Sawney Catlett near the 
birth of the nineteenth century, who was the first 
inn-keeper at the Mouth, good eating-houses were 



350 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

the rule, and not the exception. But when the 
great blaze swept from the earth every hotel in the 
place, D. W. Eba, an old Catlettsburg merchant, 
without asking co-operation from any one, em- 
ployed an architect to draw plans and specifications 
for a hostelry commensurate with the progress of 
the times. Mr. Eba spared neither time nor ex- 
pense in putting up and completing the building in 
the most substantial and artistic style, and, more 
still, desiring that the advanced house should not 
suffer for want of a fit person to run it, procured 
an old-time city caterer to take charge of and con- 
duct it in a way to win the patronage of the most 
fastidious travelers on the road. As long as the 
^' Alger House '' stands, it will proclaim the public 
spirit and private enterprise of Daniel W. Eba. 

The magnificent Opera-house is also a child of 
the fire-king, and a very stately song princess she 
is. Formerly all concerts and entertainments were 
given in the ill-adapted court-house, or found re- 
luctant quarters in one of the churches ; but now 
no city twice the size of the Gate City can boast 
of a finer structure devoted to the drama and song. 
The late Arthur F. Morse, like the builder of the 
Alger House, was an old-time merchant and busi- 
ness man of Catlettsburg, who possessed the New 
England pluck as well as taste peculiar to his sec- 
tion. Unaided from any quarter, he gave to Cat- 
lettsburg, in the noble structure bearing his name, 
an educator more potent, in a refined, cultivated 



THE SECOND FIRE A HOLOCA UST. 351 

sense, than can be found in any other part of East 
Kentucky. Mr. Morse needs no marble slab to 
commemorate his life. '' Morse Opera-house '' is a 
perpetual reminder of his good taste and noble 
deeds. 

The reader will conclude with us that a worse 
misfortune may overtake a town than a fire — per- 
ceiving that, while nature made the Mouth of the 
Sandy the Gate opening up the valley above, it 
was not until after the building of the large busi- 
ness houses, but more especially the Alger House 
and Morse Opera-house, all consequents of the 
great fire, that City could properly be added to 
Gate, making Catlettsburg the " Gate City " of East 
Kentucky. 



THE SECOND FIRE A HOLOCAUST. 

One would have thought that no time would 
have passed, nor money have been withheld, in 
procuring an engine to guard against a future con- 
flagration. But the people who controlled, to a 
great extent, the purse-strings of the corporation 
felt secure in their thick, well-laid brick walls, with 
metallic roofs, and regarded the possession of an 
engine and hose as unnecessary after the destruction 
of so many fire-traps ; and then the cost was be- 
yond the ability of taxation to justify the expense, 
they argued ; and as one great fire had already 
baptized the town in flames, it was very unlikely. 



352 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

when so many causes to feed another had been re- 
moved, that a like calamity should invade the city. 
How delusive was that hope ! A worse calamity 
was then knocking at the door, taunting the author- 
ities for their indifference in not providing means 
to stay the flames when first they started on their 
furious round of death. The inhabitants, while 
resting in false security, suspecting no danger from 
the fire-fiend, were startled from their early slumber, 
soon after midnight, on Sunday morning, in Au- 
gust, 1884, by night-walkers, while on their busy 
rounds of sin and shame, and by one not polluted 
with the stain begotten of the social evil, who was 
going hurriedly for some son of Esculapius to ad- 
minister a balm to a sick child, then lying in its 
crib, tossing to and fro upon its downy little bed, 
racked with pain and scorched with burning fever. 
The dismal cry of fire uttered by these was heard 
by others within their houses, who rushed fran- 
tically to the street and added their voices to the 
alarm. Soon the great church-bells pealed forth in 
loud, clanging tones, calling the people to the scene 
of danger. 

When it was made known by sight or voice 
that Patton Brothers' great Drug Emporium was the 
place from whence the flames arose, a shudder ran 
through every breast, knowing that, in all large whole- 
sale drug warehouses, combustible matter in great 
magnitude is ever piled up on shelves and platforms, 
and lying round loose, an inviting medium for a 



THE SECOND FIRE A HOLOCAUST. 353 

fire^ once under way, to feed its fury on, and to 
extend its sway of destruction, and sometimes 
death. Then it was also the very center of the 
best blocks of brick buildings in the city. Must 
they all fall before the devouring flames? Yes, 
they were destined to fall a prey to the fury of the 
flames. In a few minutes after the bells were rung, 
the street in front, and the alley in rear of the 
burning house were packed with people, drawn 
thither to see the progress of the fire, or to assist 
in extinguishing it, if possible, and to give aid in 
removing the goods from the burning or adjoining 
buildings. All saw at once that no human effort 
could stay the fire, so far as the Patton building 
was concerned. Yet all realized that, were an en- 
gine at hand, the fire could be intercepted and the 
adjacent buildings saved. Scores rushed into the 
Patton house, and as the flames spread to Andrews's 
dry-goods store on one side, and Prichard & Well- 
man's wholesale grocery and the Carpenter Mam- 
moth wholesale dry-goods house farther on, men 
were busy in carrying out goods from these busy 
marts of trade. 

All was wild confusion, when suddenly the wall 
between the Patton and Andrews building fell in, 
with a loud crash. Soon a wail of anguish went 
up from the red-hot bricks and blazing rubbish — 
a wail that struck terror to every soul who heard 
the awful sound. The news passed through the 
surging crowd that James McKenzie had been 

30 



354 THE BIG SAND Y VALLE Y. 

caught beneath the falling wall, and that there 
were no possible means of rescuing him from the 
fiery furnace. Some prayed, while others cried 
aloud in agony ! The cool-headed and more prac- 
tical hastily procured long scantlings, and made a 
causeway on which to reach the point from which 
the shrieks arose, hoping to snatch him as a brand 
from the burning. Scores tried to make the point; 
but as often as they essayed, were driven back by 
the hot blazes and stifling smoke which met them 
from the first step to the last. Groans and sighs 
continued to arise continuously from the sufferer 
imprisoned in his fiery cell. Heroic men rushed 
forward at the great risk of life and limb, as if de- 
termined to save the suffering boy who called so 
piteously for help. More than half an hour had 
passed (some said a full hour) since first the ter- 
rible cry was heard. The father, mother, brothers, 
and sister of the wretched sufferer stood by and 
looked more dead than alive. After the long 
agony, a shout went up from hundreds of people 
when they saw several brave men bearing to the 
street the charred body of young McKenzie. When 
it was known that he still lived, their thankfulness 
to God was expressed with equal warmth. The 
poor young man, more dead than alive, was placed 
upon a mattress, and borne to his home, accom- 
panied by Dr. Smiley, the family physician, who 
did all that it was possible for science and skill to 
do, in behalf of the sufferer ; but science and skill. 



THE SECOND FIRE A HOLOCAUST. 355 

as well as the affectionate nursing of mother, 
father, and sisters, all combined were impotent to 
save his life. He was burned to a crisp from the 
crown of his head to the sole of his feet, and how 
he bore up under the terrible stroke is a mystery. 
He lingered, however, for ten days before death 
came to release him from his great suffering, which 
he bore with stoic fortitude. 

Shortly after McKenzie was carried home day- 
light appeared, and the Huntington fire company, 
with engine and hose, arrived, having been sum- 
moned to Catlettsburg's relief. All danger from 
further spread of the fire was soon quelled, when 
the engine began to pour vast streams of water on 
the burning mass and on the adjoining buildings. 

About this time the news spread that a young 
colored man, who had come but a short time before 
from Virginia, and had conducted himself so well 
as to gain the respect of all who knew him, 
had been taken from the fiery mass, so badly 
burned as to make his recovery impossible. To add 
to this horror, it was soon discovered that John 
Graham, a colored stone-mason, had perished in 
the flames. 

Many of the people had gone to their homes to 
partake of food, as the great tax upon their bodies 
and minds had awakened a keen sense of hunger, 
when reports of a fresh horror startled them. A 
young man by the name of David Kinner, a son 
of David Kinner, Sen., and a cousin of S. G. Kin- 



356 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

ner, Commonwealth's attorne|^ of the district, who 
was reared in Catlettsburg, but at that time had his 
home in Williamsburg, Ky., was visiting at Cat- 
lettsburg. Hearing the alarm of fire, he had 
rushed from his bed to the scene of danger, and 
was reported to be missing. Search was made at 
the home of all his relatives (for he had several 
uncles and aunts living in Catlettsburg), but he 
could not be found. The young man's relatives 
and the entire community were horrified to think 
that, in addition to the casualties already mentioned, 
another victim, under the most distressing circum- 
stances, was to be added to the holocaust. The 
Huntington fire company had left as soon as all 
danger had passed of the further spread of the fire ; 
and now men went to work with shovels, spades, and 
picks, to bring up from the ruins the remains ot 
poor Kinner and the colored man, John Graham. 
The workmen were driven back by the pent-up 
heat whenever they essayed to ply their tools. To 
overcome this, a line was formed from the ruins to 
a cistern two hundred yards away, and water was 
passed for deadening the heat, in order to give the 
men a chance to proceed. The long strain upon 
the men of the town had well-nigh exhausted them ; 
but others fresh from Ashland and the surround- 
ing neighborhood, as well as a number of the more 
delicate sex, urged on by the instincts of humanity, 
took their places in the line, and passed the buckets 
of water for hours, or during the whole forenoon. 



THE SECOND FIRE A HOLOCAUST. 357 

Among the men who stood the rays of the 
scorching sun was the venerable Harman Loar, of 
near Louisa, who was stopping at Catlettsburg at 
the time. Mr. Loar was not only an old man, but 
a cripple as well, and had to stand on one foot 
supported by his crutch ; he proved himself a man 
of noble instincts. Patrick Moriarity, a popular 
Irish citizen of Ashland, not only labored, but his 
generous nature was all broken up with sympathy 
for the dead and their heart-broken friends. 

At noon the charred remains of the young man 
Kinner were exhumed, only recognizable by some 
metal substances impervious to fire. They made 
such a ghastly appearance that none of his relatives 
dared look upon them. John Graham's mutilated 
body was found about the same time. The people 
sat down in silence, and wept. It was Sunday; 
but few of the people were found in the churches 
that day. They remained away to mingle their 
tears with the relatives of the dead and suffering. 

A dispatch was sent to Williamsburg, Ky., 
notifying the parents of Mr. Kinner of the sad 
taking away of their noble son. They could not 
reach Catlettsburg before Tuesday, and on that day 
the funeral took place from the Presbyterian 
Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of 
which the young man's family were members, being 
closed for repairs. The beautiful edifice was most 
handsomely draped in weeds of mourning, and the 
auditorium was packed to its utmost capacity. 



358 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Rev. J. H. Jackson was equal to the occasion, and 
delivered a sermon of great power and pathos. 

John Graham, the colored man, was buried 
almost as soon as his remains were exhumed, his 
people hurrying up the funeral. The other colored 
man who was injured by the flames, and died next 
day after the fire, had been but a short time in 
Catlettsburg, but had conducted himself so well as 
to win the esteem of all who knew him, both 
white and colored. The trustees of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church opened the doors of their Church 
for the funeral ceremonies. The ladies of the 
place festooned the Church in the most appropriate 
style, although the man was nothing but a negro. 
The house was packed with an audience com- 
posed, not only of black people, who were the 
chief mourners in front, but the wealth and heart 
of the white people were out. Humanity was 
touched as never before in Catlettsburg. Rev. 
Thomas Hanford, the pastor of the Church, de- 
livered a grand oration, and Rev. Mr. Jolly, of the 
Baptist Church, offered the most sublime and elo- 
quent prayer that the author ever listened to. 

Ten days after the fire poor McKenzie ceased 
to live. How he survived so long is a mystery 
past finding out. His remains were taken to the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, where the family 
worshiped. An immense audience was present, 
showing great sympathy. The pastor. Rev. Thomas 
Hanford, delivered a grand eulogy on the deceased. 



THE SECOND FIRE A HOLOCAUST. 359 

McKenzie, like Kinner, had just come to manhood, 
and was the stay of his father's family. He was 
a tinner by trade. 

The death of young Kinner was doubly sad for 
his relatives and friends to bear, from the fact that 
as his father, by reverses in business, had fallen 
somewhat into decay financially, the son was the 
stay of the family. Under the guidance of that 
clear-headed and kind-hearted business man of 
Lawrence, Colonel Jay H. Northup, in whose em- 
ploy he had been for some time, he had grown to 
be an expert in measuring and judging the quality 
of timber, and was called down into the south- 
eastern part of the State to take charge of one of 
the largest timber interests of Kentucky, at a 
handsome salary. Perceiving that the condition of 
the whole family could be financially improved by 
joining him at his new quarters, young Kinner in- 
duced his father to move to Williamsburg, his 
head-quarters in business, where the family are still 
living. He was spending a few days at Catletts- 
burg with friends, and had arranged to leave for 
home the day before the fire occurred, but yielded 
to the entreaties of a fond aunt to defer his de- 
parture for another day, by which his valuable life 
was brought to an awful termination. 

The incineration of so many Catlettsburg peo- 
ple caused a reaction, and the authorities immedi- 
ately procured a first-class fire-engine, with hose, 
and put up a substantial engine-house, at a cost 



360 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

altogether of over twelve thousand dollars. The ma- 
chine is first-class, and will throw a double stream 
with force on the roof of a six-story house. 
The people now have no fear of a wide-spread fire, 
although no number of fire-extinguishers can be 
expected to prevent single houses from burning. 
Another lesson taught is, that it is not necessary 
for people to rush into a burning building to save 
property, regardless of their own safety, in order 
to prove their good citizenship, as every prudent 
business man has it in his power to protect his in- 
terests by insurance. Mr. N. P. Andrews, in whose 
house the men lost their lives, warned all of the 
danger; but they failed to heed his advice. 



Bright Young Men. 



James W. Reily, the first clerk of the Boyd 
courts, was intellectually as bright as a diamond. 
He could quote whole pages from Tom Hood, 
Burns, and Edgar A. Poe. He was finely educated. 
The milk of human kindness bubbled over from 
his great, loving heart. If a little child stubbed its 
toe, no matter what the surroundings, Jimmy Reily 
ran to its relief. He died unmarried in 1865. He 
had his little besetments, yet was a noble man. 

Judge William Sands was a gifted person- 
age. He studied law with Hon. G. N. Brown soon 
after coming home from service in the Confederate 
army. He went to Greenup, and was soon made 
county attorney ; then he was elected district at- 
torney, and followed right on as circuit judge. He 
had dazzling talents ; but the sunshine of public 
favor fell too heavily upon his ethereal make-up, 
and, like a tender flower, he was cut down in early 
morn. He died trusting in the Redeemer. 

W. Mate Strong, of Paintsville, possessed rare 
talents. His mind fairly glistened with bright 
thoughts. He was an educated young lawyer. He 
fought against pulmonary trouble ; but it con- 
quered his frail nature. He was all mind. He 

died young. 

31 



362 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

THE TURMANS 

Came down from Floyd County, and settled near 
Round Bottom at a very early day, about the time 
of the War of 1812. The father of James Turman 
had other sons besides James, who intermarried 
with the leading families of the neighborhood. The 
Turmans are thus well connected. 

James was not the only prominent one of the 
family ; but, by force of character and circum- 
stances, he was properly the leader of the house of 
Turman in the valley. He married Margaret, a 
daughter of James Rouse, father of Esquire Samuel 
Rouse, who is, and has been many years, a magis- 
trate in Boyd County. James Turman paid great 
deference to his wife, always addressing her as Miss 
Margaret. When a young married man he bought 
land on the Kentucky shore of the Sandy River, 
opposite the Bloomer Bar. He opened a farm, es- 
tablished a ferry across the Sandy, and entertained 
travelers at his inn. In the early days of Ken- 
tucky history a ferry carried with it the privilege 
to retail spirits, and Mr. Turman, with his keen 
scent after money, was not slow in availing himself 
of the privilege. When the privilege was taken 
away by legislative enactment, he procured license 
from the County Court, and continued selling as a 
hotel-keeper until the war, in 1861. By farming, 
hotel-keeping, ferrying, and retailing ardent spirits 
he became well-off. Few men on Lower Sandy 



THE TURMANS. 363 

were better known than was James Turman, not 
only to the people of his own section, but to those 
throughout the valley. 

One outcome in the life of James Turman differs 
from that of most men similarly situated, which it 
is not out of place to mention. Statistics prove 
that ninety per cent of all retailers of ardent spirits 
not only become hard drinkers, but lose their 
property, and are sooner or later reduced to poverty. 
The statistics referred to proved only half true in Mr. 
Turman's case ; for Avhile he drank his dram continu- 
ously, he continued to prosper in business to the 
end of his life. This is accounted for by the fact 
that he strictly adhered to the laws of trade, saving 
every day something above his outgo. He was a 
very joyous, sunshiny man, and was friendly to 
all ; but his hilarity never carried him so far as to 
cause him to lose his balance, and give to relative 
or friend one glass of liquor. Every body who 
drank his grog was compelled to pay down before 
he got the beverage. As whisky in those days 
only cost about twelve cents per gallon, the owner 
could afford to partake of all he chose, and still 
have immense profits to place to his credit. 

Turman's Ferry, for twenty-five years previous 
to 1864, was the most prominent point on the Sandy 
River between Louisa and the Mouth. Rockville, 
a short distance above, on the Sandy, and Railroad, 
and Whitens Creek, and Lockwood Station below, 
get most of the trade that used to center at and 



364 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

near Turman's Ferry. Mr. James Prichard, also in 
the Round Bottom, divides patronage with the places 
mentioned. 

There is but very little crossing now at the old 
landmark of Turman^s Ferry. Mr. Turman died 
some years after the close of the great war. He 
left several sons and a daughter. One of the sons, 
Samuel, lives on and owns part of the old home- 
stead, and is a prominent citizen in the neighbor- 
hood and county, while others are in the far West. 
The daughter married Philip Fannin, an official 
of Boyd County, and one of the most prosperous 
and wealthy farmers and stock-traders in the Sandy 
Valley. Mrs. Fannin is a worthy helpmeet to her 
husband, being possessed of all the characteristics 
of a noble wife, mother, and neighbor. 

Mrs. Turman, or Miss Margaret, as her husband 
fondly called her, still lives in contentment at the 
old homestead. 

An incident well illustrating Mr. Turman's 
social nature, but more especially his love of gain, 
happened in the Summer of 1860, which is historic 
enough to be recorded in this sketch. The county 
of Boyd had been formed during the session of the 
Legislature of 1859 and 1860. The new county, 
with Lawrence, was made a legislative district. 
The Whig-American combination in politics ap- 
pointed a day to hold their convention, to bring 
out a candidate to represent the district in the lower 
branch of the Legislature. Turman^s Ferry, being 



THE TURMANS. 365 

centrally located, was selected as the place where 
the first convention of the people of the two 
counties should assemble to make a nomination. 
The day on which the meeting of the clans occurred 
was lovely in the extreme. The Sandy River had, 
from recent rains, swelled sufficiently to enable a 
Sandy steamer to take the delegation from Catletts- 
burg to the meeting. The people of the Gate City, 
as the county seat had been fixed at their place, 
were in a mood to love every body, and felt that it 
would be courteous to go en masse to the gathering 
of the people from Lawrence and their own proud 
little county, and thus show by their presence that 
they wished to bind in the bonds of indissoluble 
friendship the people of the two counties. When 
the boat left Catlettsburg it was alive with people, 
including many ladies, all bent on a day of pleasure. 
Many of the people had baskets well filled with 
viands, of which to make their dinner. A few, 
however, had not taken their lunch along with 
them ; but they cared nothing for that, as Mr. 
Turman was prepared to feed all who might apply 
for dinner. Those who had lunch were very liberal 
in sharing it with those who were not so fortunate 
Vast crowds came down from Louisa and vicinity, 
and as most of them came on horseback, it was in- 
convenient to cumber themselves with a lunch- 
basket, especially when they knew that they could 
be supplied at the Turman Hotel. 

The great meeting was held in Mr. Turman's 



366 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

new barn, just erected, as if for the occasion. Captain 
William Vinson, Daniel Johns, Laban T. Moore, 
together with many other noted citizens of Lawrence 
County, were present. 

Daniel Johns was nominated, and, at the ensuing 
election, elected to the Legislature, being the first to 
fill that honorable position in the new district. 
Mr. Johns served faithfully and received the 
plaudits of his constituency ; but soon after his term 
expired he removed to Minnesota, where he has 
ever since resided. The removal of Mr. Johns 
created a vacuum in the affairs of Lawrence County, 
which has been hard to fill by another. He was a 
very kind, genial man, and sensible as well. He 
has filled official positions in his North-western home 
with credit to himself and profit to his constituents. 

But to the incident. After the nomination was 
made, many of those who had brought no lunch rushed 
to the hotel, where Mr. and Mrs. Turman had made 
ample preparation to feed all who might call for 
dinner. The tables were filled with rich viands, that 
were devoured with a keen relish by the hungry 
crowd who filled up the tables ; all, however, in the 
best of spirits, praising the dinner, and heaping en- 
comiums on both host and hostess for the great labor 
they had undergone to feed the hungry delegates. 
Mr. Turman's business tact never forsook him — no, 
not under the most trying circumstances. From 
the many praises his big dinner was receiving from 
almost every one partaking of his food, he must 



THE GOBIES, OF LAWRENCE, 367 

have been led to believe that the feasters thought 
it was a free-to-all meal, and as he dignifiedly 
passed up and down the hall, talking pleasantly to 
all, he remarked that he had plenty to eat, and it 
was free to all ; " but,'^ said he, " if you see proper 
to give a quarter a piece, old Jim [as he called him- 
self] will not be offended.'' If any one had had 
previously supposed that his dinner was free, he was 
now undeceived, and all planked down the quarter. 
It was not meanness in him, it was a very soft way 
to manage business with a promiscuous crowd. 



THE GOBLES, OF LAWRENCE. 

Greenville Goble and his wife were originally 
of what is now Carter County ; but were early in 
Lawrence, and may be styled old settlers there. 
Mr. Goble was a man of talent, and possessed of 
great energy. He was a lawyer of more than 
average capacity, and successfully practiced his 
profession, not only in his own county of Law- 
rence, but in adjoining counties. He filled the of- 
fice of prosecuting attorney for one term. Like 
many lawyers possessing energy and a taste in that 
direction, he was also an extensive farmer and 
trader. He was the owner of one of the best 
farms in Lawrence County, outlying from the river. 
The Goble place, four miles from Louisa, on the 
West-Liberty road, not only had many broad acres 
of land under a high state of cultivation in grains 



368 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

and grass, but the excellent dwelling, barns, and 
large, well-kept orchards gave evidence that a 
master was at the head. 

Mr. Goble was not only a busy man, attending 
strictly to money-getting, but was also a man of 
great public spirit, and devoted much time in 
studying the interests of his county and section. 
Along in the forties he was convinced that tobacco 
could be raised to great profit by the small farmers 
of the county, and yield greater returns than any 
other crop they might raise on the space of ground 
taken in its cultivation ; and he further argued that 
it was a crop which every little boy could assist in 
raising, thus inducing the boys not only to learn 
industrious habits, but adding something to the 
family purse also. So anxious was the philanthro- 
pist to have the people engage in tobacco culture, 
that, in many instances, he obligated himself to 
buy their tobacco, or at least market it for them. 
Quite a number availed themselves of the generous 
offer of Mr. Goble, and raised their first crop of 
the weed. But having had no experience, and 
being careless in its handling, their tobacco made 
a shabby appearance when offered for sale in market. 
Mr. Goble kept his word with all, and lost money by 
his neighbors' bad handling of their first and last 
crop of tobacco. Had the farmers done their work 
as scientifically as did Mr. Goble, his expectations 
would have been realized, and they would have re- 
ceived better returns for their labor. 



THE GOBLES, OF LAWRENCE. 369 

In the prime of life Mr. Goble died, leaving a 
widow, several daughters, and one son, none of his 
children having reached mature age. The widow 
and mother was in every way qualified to take up 
the burden of conducting the large farm, with the 
skill of one who had been trained to such a life, 
even buying and selling horses, mules, and cattle, 
with the clear business judgment of the best farm- 
ers and stock-traders. The Widow Goble's farm 
was one of the best-kept in the county, affording 
a good profit by the superior skill and good man- 
agement with which it was conducted. The 
daughters, as they grew up to womanhood, mar- 
ried, settling with their husbands in Lawrence 
County, where they were raised. 

The son, Montraville B. Goble, studied law, 
but was elected to and filled the office of Circuit 
clerk when quite a young man, which no doubt 
caused him to give up the practice of the law, and 
ultimately to engage in other pursuits. When 
quite a young man he married Miss Burgess, a 
daughter of George Burgess, a wealthy and honor- 
able citizen of Lawrence County. Mr. Goble's 
wife was a noble Christian lady. They lived in 
Louisa, where he engaged in timber-trading on the 
Sandy. He was not only one of the leading busi- 
ness men of his county, but took rank as a leader, 
a public man, and a politician. Mr. Goble had the 
misfortune to lose his wife by death early in the 
seventies. She left two sons, George and Green- 



370 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

ville, and four daughters. George, the elder son, 
died suddenly in 1885 or 1886. Greenville, the 
younger, is now just grown to manhood, and is 
employed as clerk in one of the many industries 
his father is interested in. One of the daughters 
is the wife of Mr. Magann, son of banker Magann, of 
Grayson, Ky. He is a gentleman of fine business 
tact, and is doing well. Another daughter is the 
wife of Maguffey Wellman, a young business man 
of Catlettsburg. Another daughter died on the 
verge of young womanhood. Miss Lilian, the only 
one at home, adds a charm to the home circle and 
to society by her lady-like manner and graces, 

Mr. Goble, after the death of his wife, married 
for his second wife. Miss Northup, of New York, a 
sister of Colonel Jay H. Northup, of Louisa. It 
was a match well worthy to be made, she being a 
lady of education, refinement, and great suavity of 
manner. One child, a son, now ten or twelve 
years old, blesses this marriage. Some short time 
after Mr. Goblets second marriage, he moved from 
Louisa to Catlettsburg, where he still continues to 
reside. He is largely engaged in timber-trading, 
saw and planing milling, and holding real estate, all 
together giving him as much to do in looking after 
his many ventures as can be crowded on one man. 

Mr. Goble is a member of no Church, but leans 
strongly toward the Methodists, and, when possible, 
he attends Methodist revival meetings, taking in 
the hearty singing and testimonies with a keen 



TWO HISTORIC SISTERS. 371 

relish of religious delight. He contributes of his 
means to support the Gospel. His first wife was a 
leading Southern Methodist. The present Mrs. 
Goble is a Presbyterian, and so are the daughters. 

Mr. Goble was at one time not only a Demo- 
crat of Democrats, but would go any reasonable 
length to see his man elected, whether the man 
was right or wrong. He is still in principle as 
strong a Democrat as ever, but by no means so 
zealous a worker in the party traces, and would be 
apt to kick if a really bad man were put up for his 
support. He is a strict temperance man, casting 
his vote against the sale of liquor whenever the 
subject comes up. 

The widow of Greenville Goble and mother ot 
M. B. Goble is still living, at a good old age. She 
makes her home with one of her daughters, near 
Louisa, Kentucky. She is a ripe Christian lady, 
having been most of her life a professed Christian, 
in communion with the Methodist Church. She is 
loved by her children and grandchildren and es- 
teemed by her neighbors, and is waiting on the 
shores of time to '^ go up higher " when the Master 
calls. 

TWO HISTORIC SISTERS. 

Heney Sovain was a scion of the house ot 
that name, in Alsace-Lorraine, a former province 
of France, but now of Germany. Some of the So- 
vains came to America as early as 1755, and settled 



372 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY, 

in Philadelphia, where, by industry and thrift, they 
accumulated property, but lost it in the War of the 
Revolution and in that of 1812. The Sovains are 
referred to in sketching the history of a family of 
note in Catlettsburg, who are at the head of one 
of Catlettsburg's most useful industries, and noted 
for their education and knowledge. But it is need- 
less to refer to the branch at Catlettsburg, who, by 
the maternal side of their house, have the blood of 
the Sovains. 

Henry Sovain, wishing to seek a location farther 
south, and hoping to improve his worldly prospects, 
when a young man went south into Virginia, 
where he married the daughter of one of the first 
families of Central Virginia. The young husband 
and wife settled on a farm at the foot of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains, where they intended to live the 
remainder of their days. But shortly before Louisa 
became a town, which was in 1821, many people in 
the neighborhood of the Sovains sold out, and 
moved to the Sandy Valley, then the " promised 
land " of that section in the " Old Dominion." 
Among the emigrants some of the relatives of Mrs. 
Sovain were found. This, no doubt, hastened the 
removal of Henry Sovain and his wife to the Sandy 
Valley, which took place a little before or soon 
after the new county of Lawrence was formed. 

While living in Central Virginia a little daugh- 
ter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Sovain, to gladden 
their hearts. They named her Mary Jane. When 



TWO HISTORIC SISTERS. 373 

they moved to Sandy she was four or five years 
old. They at first settled in Wayne County, Va., 
near Louisa, Ky. When, not long after, another 
daughter came to add to their cup of joy, they gave 
her the name borne by the wife and mother, Millie. 
Mary Jane looked upon her baby sister as a little 
angel, sent down from above by the Good Father, 
to be her companion, for it must be recorded that 
Mrs. Sovain was a warm-hearted Christian of the 
Methodist faith from early childhood, and it was 
no trouble, with the pious mother's teachings, for 
little Mary Jane to believe every thing that she 
thought was good to be a gift from God. 

The two sisters, Mary Jane and Millie, were 
destined, in God's providence, to be great actors in 
life's drama in the role of sister, daughter, wife ; 
the former, as mother, step-mother, both being 
Christian workers and merchants. The girls, 
as they grew up, received the best moral and 
mental training possible from a Christian mother, 
with the aid of the best schools of the new settle- 
ment. The Sovains, not being possessed of a large 
share of worldly wealth, could not afford to send 
their daughters to boarding-schools to have them 
trained, which they would have gladly done had 
they been able. With all of these drawbacks, so 
well was the education of the daughters managed 
by parents and teachers that, on arriving at young 
womanhood, each had a fairly good education. 

Mary, the elder, in young womanhood, married 



374 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Mitchell Stewart, a young farmer. It proved to be 
a happy match, the union, however, only lasting a 
few brief years, when it was terminated by the 
death of the husband. Mr. Stewart left behind 
him a widow, with the care of two little children, 
a son and daughter. The son, Henry R. Stewart, 
was a precocious child, and gave promise in early 
youth of great intellectual attainment, which was 
realized, although a promising career was cut short 
by his early decline, and by his death at the age 
of twenty-eight years. Henry R. Stewart was 
fairly well educated, and had a retentive memory ; 
he was a great reader, and possessed an analytical 
mind, capable of properly applying what he had 
read, which made him one of the best informed 
young men of his time in Louisa, where he lived 
and died. He never married. 

The sister of Henry R. received the name of 
her aunt and grandmother, '' Millie," or Amelia ; 
but the child^s uncle, John Cook, fondly called the 
winsome child " Did," and to this day she is ad- 
dressed by that appellation by her intimate friends. 
She grew up to womanhood, the idol of mother, 
brother, and associates. She was trained in the 
principles of religion, and her mind was cultivated 
in the best schools in her native little city, thus 
qualifying her, though unseen at the time, to fill 
the place with credit as the wife of a public man. 
At fifteen years of age, or, perhaps, a little before, 
she was a bride, marrying Kenas F. Prichard. 



TWO HISTORIC SISTERS. 375 

He was at the time, a rising young lawyer, prac- 
ticing his profession in the town of Louisa, and is 
now the Hon. Mr. Prichard, a prominent citizen, 
lawyer, and political leader, living at Catlettsburg. 

Mr. Prichard and family, about 1870, moved 
from Louisa, Lawrence County, where he had filled 
several important offices and where he was regarded 
as a man of great intellectual ability. Since his 
residence in Boyd, he has been State senator, but 
is more noted as a great lawyer and pleader at the 
bar than a seeker of promotion in official life. Mr. 
Prichard and family occupy a high position in the 
social circle of Catlettsburg, and live in fine style 
at their magnificent home on Broadway. 

To the union of Keen F. Prichard and Amelia 
Stewart have been born four children, three 
daughters and one son. The oldest daughter mar- 
ried a scion of one of the old aristocratic houses of 
Fleming County. They live in Omaha, Nebraska, 
where the husband is engaged in commercial pur- 
suits. The young wife, although the distance is 
great, comes back often to the home of her child- 
hood, to bring sunshine to the hearts of her father 
and mother and former associates, not forgetting to 
cover her Aunt Shearer with kisses of love. The 
second daughter wedded a prosperous young manu- 
facturer of Omaha, and, of course, lives there. The 
youngest daughter, an uncommonly bright and 
winsome miss, just approaching young womanhood, 
was carried to the tomb by a sudden stroke of 



376 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

heart disease. Her untimely taking away crushed 
the heart of father, mother, sisters, brother, and 
Aunt Shearer, and brought sadness to all of her 
young associates and the older people who had be- 
come acquainted with the bright little lady. Henry, 
the son, deserves a medal of the Red-Cross Legion 
of America as a reward for the performance of an 
heroic act, which saved from death by drowning 
two valuable lives. 

When the great flood of 1884 was at its highest, 
Mrs. Judge C. L. McConnell and her little maid 
were precipitated into the swirling waters at a 
depth of seven feet, and would have perished but 
for young Henry Prichard. Being near by in a 
joe-boat, he heard the plunge, as well as the screams 
of distress uttered by the lady and little girl, and 
with lightning speed flew to the scene of danger. 
He caught the little miss by her hair, and pulled 
her into the boat ; the lady, fortunately seizing the 
craft, was assisted in by the brave lad, and landed 
on the stairway out of danger. 

We now leave the house of the Stewart branch 
of the Sovains, and ask the reader to turn back to 
Mrs. Stewart, the mother of Henry R. and his 
sister, Mrs. K. F. Prichard, and follow us while we 
trace her eventful life. Some years after the death 
of her husband, Mitchell Stewart, she for the sec- 
ond time became a wife ; Milton Ferguson winning 
her heart and hand in holy wedlock. Mr. Fergu- 
son was a well-to-do merchant at Wayne C. H., 



TWO HISTORIC SISTERS. 377 

Virginia, now West Virginia, and was a man of 
honor and strict integrity. He was a widower, 
with three sons. C. W. Ferguson, for many years 
a well-off farmer and store-keeper, near Wayne 
C. H., is one of the sons. We have already, under 
another head, given a short sketch of the life of 
another of the sons, the late Hon. M. J. Ferguson, 
of Louisa ; and Captain Joseph M. Ferguson, of 
near Ashland, Ky., who, like his brothers, has al- 
ways sustained the highest reputation as a man of 
honor, is the third brother. It is not historically 
amiss to state that Captain Ferguson fought bravely 
on the Confederate side during the Civil War. 
That he was conscientious and brave is proven, al- 
though not alone, by the fact that when the war 
was over, and he returned to his home, he set him- 
self bravely to work to rebuild his own personal 
fortune, making himself useful to the people of his 
section in straightening out the difficulties the war 
had brought on his country, never abusing either 
the Government or those brave men who met him 
on the field of battle in the great contest. 

But we bid adieu to the three full brothers 
Ferguson, and again retrace our steps to Mrs. Fer- 
guson, formerly Stewart, mee So vain. 

To the union of Milton Ferguson and Mary 
Jane Stewart were born two children, a son and a 
daughter. The son, John Ferguson, first studied 
law, but having no taste for it, turned his attention 
to steamboating and river-trading. He is almost 

32 



378 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

a recluse so far as society is concerned, but when 
he does emerge from his chosen obscurity, few men 
make a better impression upon acquaintances and 
friends. Laura, the daughter, was trained from in- 
fancy by her doting mother with all the care that 
it is possible for a Christian parent to bestow on 
her offspring. The father died when the child was 
very young, and the entire responsibility of her 
training in life consequently devolved upon her 
mother. As the daughter, from her youth, gave 
every indication of strength of character and vigor 
of intellect, the mother was encouraged to bestow 
extra labor and expense in training at home, and 
had her educated in the best schools, fitting her to 
fill with credit and usefulness in life the responsi- 
bilities which awaited her^ at least in expectancy, as 
a woman of high position in society. 

When Laura Ferguson grew up to young woman's 
estate, she was not only the idol of her relatives, 
but was regarded by all who knew her as a young 
lady of rare excellence, being beautiful in person, 
graceful in manners, cultured in mind, and, to crown 
all, a Christian believer. After the death of Milton 
Ferguson, Laura's father, her mother opened and 
carried on a store in Louisa, not giving up the busi- 
ness until early in the sixties, and although living 
some time after she gave up business, she died before 
her daughter was fully grown. 

It is necessary to go back many years, and more 
fully sketch the history of Millie, the younger 



TWO HISTORIC SISTERS. 379 

sister of Laura's mother. John Cook came from 
Marietta, Ohio, prior to 1840, and established the 
tailoring business in Louisa, adding ready-made 
clothing to his calling. It is well to state in this 
place that at that period of time the sewing-machine 
had not been invented, and all the clothing men 
and women wore was made by hand. As the tai- 
loring business was one of great utility and profit, 
the sons of the rich, as well as the poor, in many 
instances, learned that trade. Such a thing as a 
store which kept only men's garments on sale, prior 
to the coming of the sewing-machine, the invention 
of Elias Howe, a good Quaker of Long Island*, 
New York, was regarded as an innovation and a 
profitless financial venture. Many German tailors 
had come to the United States, who, as a class, 
were not so well skilled in the art as the American, 
English, or Irish tailors, and were compelled to 
work at their trade for almost what boss tailors 
chose to give them. This, no doubt, had something 
to do in starting up clothing-stores in the large 
cities of the land. But John Cook's starting such 
a business in the then small town of Louisa looked, 
to conservative old store-keepers, as a doubtful ex- 
periment, indeed. Mr. Cook was a typical Ohio 
man, having the pluck of the New Englariders who 
founded the great State of Ohio by establishing a 
colony of hardy pioneers at the mouth of the Mus- 
kingum. He thought that, by attention to the 
laws of trade, any legitimate business could be made 



380 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

successful. His was the first clothing-store estab- 
lished in the Sandy Valley ; and it proved a suc- 
cess. He afterwards added a general store to his 
business, doing a prosperous trade up to the time 
of his death in 1856. 

In 1840 Mr. Cook married Millie So vain, sister 
of Mary Jane Sovain. The union was a very 
happy one. While Mrs. Cook paused to weep for 
her dead husband, she was supported by the sub- 
lime truths of the Christian religion. Though no 
children were born to her, who might by their 
very dependence have mitigated her grief, she felt 
ihat as her husband, who was all the world to her, 
had finished his course on earth, and had been 
transplanted to the celestial world, that she would 
not be honoring his memory by sitting down in 
idle lamentation for her loss. Besides, were there 
not helpless ones to think of? She had no children 
to receive the warmer love bestowed by a stricken 
wife and mother, to be sure ; but there were her 
aged parents and her sister's children, who needed 
her counsel and aid. While generous to all of her 
relatives, more especially did her yearning heart go 
out after her niece, Laura. She took upon herself 
the privilege of sharing with the mother the train- 
ing of the young, sprightly niece, hoping to see her 
in after years occupying a high sphere in the moral, 
intellectual, and social walks of life ; and she was 
not disappointed. Seven or eight years after the 
death of her first husband, John Cook, Mrs. Cook 



TWO HISTORIC SISTERS. 381 

married Samuel Wellman, a wealthy and very 
jirominent citizen of Wayne County, West Va. 

Mr. Wellman, as perhaps has already been said, 
was a brother of the late Judge Wellman, of Cat- 
lettsburg ; also the uncle of James, Calvin, and 
Noah Wellman, of the same place — all prominent 
people. He was also the father-in-law of the late 
Hon. M. J. Ferguson, a short sketch of whose 
eventful life is given in another place. Mr. Well- 
man, of course, was a widower when he married 
the Widow Cook. The union proved to be a very 
peaceful and happy one, but was terminated in a 
brief space of time by the sudden death of Mr. 
Wellman. 

We failed to state before, that after the death of 
John Cook, her first husband, the widow continued 
the business of merchandising in her own name 
from Mr. Cook's death till 1861 or 1862; and it is 
proper to say that she was regarded during her 
whole mercantile life as a lady of fine business ca- 
pacity. Few men could have excelled her as a 
first-class merchant. But whether merchandising 
or not, she was always busy in useful labor, although 
much of her time — indeed all of the time since her 
first marriage until the present — she could, with her 
sufficient means, have lived without it. But she be- 
lieved that no drones nor idlers could be good 
Christians, and as her whole life from childhood 
had been under the control of a strict religious in- 
fluence, if she found nothing else to do, she busied 



382 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

herself in doing acts of kindness to the distressed, 
and helping with her means and by her works to 
build up the cause of sound morality and Christian 
love and charity. She and her sister, as well as 
parents before her, were strictly religious, all being 
of the Methodist faith and order ; and after the di- 
vision in 1844, herself and all of her relatives have 
been and are now active leaders in every good 
work undertaken by the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South. Not many years after the death 
of Mr. Wellman, she married, as her third husband, 
the Rev. Walter Shearer, a noted and able traveling 
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
This marriage, like the two former, proved a happy 
one, but was in several years terminated by the 
death of the husband. 

Along in the last half of the seventies Laura 
Ferguson, Mrs. Shearer's niece, who, we have already 
stated, received so much love and affection from 
her Aunt Millie, was married, with the aunt's ap- 
probation and blessing, to Dr. J. M. Sweatnum, a 
very talented and promising young physician. 
The hopeful young doctor took his beautiful bride 
to the West, settling in a live, progressive town in 
Northern Missouri, where the young physician and 
able business man went to work with a vim, which 
could not fail to le^d to success, adding to his ex- 
tensive practice, dealing largely in real estate, pub- 
lishing a newspaper, etc.; and, in a material point 
of view, gaining almost daily in worldly wealth. 



TWO HISTORIC SISTERS. 383 

But he had been settled in his Missouri home little 
over a year when his mind was filled with forebod- 
ings ; for it burst upon him that his Laura was 
not long for this world. Never rugged in health, 
yet never complaining, her removal from the more 
genial clime of the Sandy Valley to the higher 
latitude of Northern Missouri — an almost treeless 
region, the bitter cold winds coming down from the 
frozen north — was more than the Southland flower 
could stand. A decline set in so alarming, that 
her husband, with the strong solicitations of sister, 
brothers, and aunt, brought her back to her Big 
Sandy home, stopping with her sister, Mrs. Prich- 
ard, where husband, sister, aunt, and other relatives 
and friends did all that human love and skill could 
do to fan back to her pale cheek the roses of health 
peculiar to her girlhood. But the Great Shepherd 
above called her to his own fold, and she left her 
friends with the assurance that a bright flower, 
nipped by some untimely blast, was transplanted in 
the Garden of Delight, to flourish while eternity 
rolls on. She left one child, a daughter, a little 
wee thing, whose prattling innocence won the 
hearts of grand-aunt, aunt, uncles, and cousins ; in 
fact, every one who saw the sweet little child was 
carried away with its loveliness. 

Soon after the death of Rev. Mr. Shearer, his 
widow, although having ample means to keep up a 
separate establishment, but not wishing to be alone, 
sold her possessions in Louisa and took up her 



384 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

residence with her nephew and niece, Mr. and Mrs. 
Prichard, at Catlettsburg, feeling that her chief duty 
to remain at Louisa was at an end. Her father 
dying there late in the fifties, and her mother ten 
years later, giving them, in their declining years, 
all the care and attention which was possible for a 
Christian daughter to bestow upon her aged par- 
ents, she yielded to the loving solicitude of her 
friends at Catlettsburg, to take up her residence 
with them. While the affections of Mrs. Shearer 
were strong for all of her friends, her heart went 
out after the little daughter of her niece, Laura, with 
a tenfold cord binding her to " Little Nellie " with 
more than a mother's love. From the day of the 
death of little Nellie Sweatnum's mother, the main 
object of the great-aunt's life has been to guard the 
little treasure with as much care, and of course 
more sacredness, than the miser watches his golden 
treasures. Although the father of Nellie was amply 
able and willing to take the child back to his 
Western home, and there carry on an establishment 
with hired, skillful nurses, who would do as much 
as hired help could be expected to do, and while it 
was painful to him to leave his little pet behind 
him so many miles, and return to his desolate home 
in Missouri, he felt that it would be cruel to take 
her away, at that time at least, from the fond 
embrace of the child's doting friends; especially 
would it have been more cruel, he saw, to snatch 
her from the arms of her great-aunt, so plain was 



TWO HISTORIC SISTERS. 385 

it to the father that her love for his child was 
pure and unselfish. 

After consigning the loved form of his wife to 
the tomb, interring her in the Ashland cemetery, a 
beautiful resting-place for the ashes of the dead, 
Dr. Sweatnum left his little baby girl in good 
hands, and, as duty called, went back to resume the 
routine of a busy life. Some two or more years 
after the death of his first wife, the doctor married 
again. Not long after the second marriage, like all 
aifectionate fathers, he thought it his duty to have 
his child brought home and reared in the precincts 
of his own family. He made a trip to Catletts- 
burg, and carried away his little daughter, who day 
by day had, if possible, grown more lovely. The 
taking away of the child was a sad blow to the 
great-aunt, aunt, and cousins, but they were recon- 
ciled by the fact that she was in good hands. Mrs. 
Dr. Sweatnum the second must have been a re- 
markably good woman, for little Nellie always speaks 
of her in the most loving manner. But the step- 
mother of little Nellie, however good, was destined 
to fill her place as wife and step-mother for a very 
brief space of time ; not much over a year had go*ne 
when she was called to the spirit land. 

Not long after the death of his second wife, 
Nellie was brought back to her old home, greatly to 
the delight of the little miss's relatives. After 
Nellie had been trained by her aunts, and had been 
sent to the best primary schools in Catlettsburg, 

33 



386 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

her father thought it best to have her with him, she 
being at the time about twelve years old. But un- 
willing to separate her again from her aunt Shearer, 
he provided in the city of Omaha, Nebraska, a 
Jiouse furnished in the most luxuriant style, over 
which he invited Mrs. Shearer to come and preside, 
thus enabling the young miss to be with both father 
and aunt. Nellie was placed in a preparatory school, 
to qualify her to enter a ladies' seminary further 
along in life, when she should be old enough to be 
separated from the restraints of home life. After 
two or more years' stay in the great, bustling, giant. 
Western city, it was agreed by both father and 
aunt that it was time that their charge should be 
placed in a ladies' boarding-school, as Miss Nellie 
was now verging on to young womanhood. A 
noted school in the suburbs of the Queen City was 
selected by the father, with the approval of the 
aunt. 

How eventful have been the lives of most of the 
persons sketched in this article ! The full history 
can not now be finished. Dr. J. M. Sweatnum in- 
tends, when his daughter's five years' course is 
finished at the female school, to take her to Eu- 
rope, where she may have access to the great uni- 
versities, art galleries, and other centers of knowl- 
edge, thus rounding up her already well-begun 
education. While in the old country he will be 
able to visit the home of the Crosses in England, 
from which house Mildred Cross Sweatnum, his 



THE BELONGS. 387 

great-grandmother, sprang ; and in northern Ireland 
he will hunt up some of the Jemisons, a daughter 
of that house capturing a young Ferguson, who had 
come down from his highland home in Scotland to 
capture cattle, but instead was himself noosed by a 
handsome maiden, from which union came the fam- 
ily of the Fergusons on Sandy. Of course Alsace- 
Lorraine will receive the visit of the party, so that 
the daughter may trace back one of her ancestral 
lines who first came into note in that historic 
country. 

Providence shapes the destiny of all who, if 
faithful to duty, are led, if not to wealth and fame, 
to honest respectability. 



THE BELONGS. 



At an early day in Sandy history the father of 
James Belong, Samuel Delong, and George Delong, 
and others of the family, came from the Mus- 
kingum country at or near Zanesville, Ohio, and 
falling in love with a bright-eyed Sandy maiden, 
courted and married her, and became a good loyal 
Big Sandian. The Belongs are of French extrac- 
tion, and the house of Delong in America has be- 
come a noted one. The Sandy Valley house of 
that name has the same ancestral beginning as had 
the great Arctic navigator of that name, and the 
great editor at the Golden Gate. 

The marriage of the elder Delong to a member 



388 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

of one of the most prominent families in the valley 
connects them not only with the Auxiers, but nu- 
merous families of note in the valley. James Delong 
owns and lives on a very fine farm not far from 
its mouth on John's Creek. His wife was a Ward, 
a kinswoman of Rev. Z. Meek, D. D. One or 
more of James's sons served in the Federal army 
during the war. Several of the sons of Mr. Delong 
went to Texas, and are prosperous citizens of that 
giant State. 

James Delong and family are adherents of the 
Christian Church, and in politics Republican. 
Samuel and George Delong live in Martin County, 
on the Middle Fork of Rock Castle. They both 
own large boundaries of land, and, like their 
brother James, are well supplied with money. 
Samuel and George adhere to the Methodist per- 
suasion, Samuel being a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, at Eden, Ky. They, 
like their brother, are Republicans. All are people 
of .great respectability. 



A CLOSE CALL. 



In the latter part of the Summer of 1862, the 
Ohio and Sandy Rivers at Catlettsburg were ex- 
tremely low. The Sandy at the ford at the Mouth 
was not over nine or ten inches deep, with a well- 
beaten track, over which teams, horsemen, and even 
footmen, by stepping from rock to rock, could cross 



A CLOSE CALL. 389 

with perfect ease and safety. Catlettsburg at the 
time was the depot of vast quantities of Govern- 
ment stores, as well as having located a corral, 
where many government horses and mules were 
kept to supply sudden demands for horses used by 
the army of occupation in the Sandy above. At 
the time the general stores of the place carried 
large stocks of goods, especially in the line of 
ready-made clothing. Not a soldier was on hand 
to guard the Government stores, much less to pro- 
tect the private property of the town. Ten armed 
men could have come in and captured the place, 
including the rich Government treasures. 

At about eleven o'clock A. M., on the day in- 
dicated, the few persons who happened to be pass- 
ing up Front Street were attracted by a dense 
cloud of dust a mile or two distant on the road 
leading to Ceredo, West Va. By the time the first 
observers had called to others to come and look, it 
was discovered that the great cloud of dust was 
put in motion by the feet of several hundred 
horses, whose riders carried the colors of the 
Southern Confederacy, and wore the gray, the em- 
blematical uniform of that party. From the time 
the flying dust was first noticed, not more than 
five minutes had elapsed when it was apparent to 
all beholders on the banks that a large force of 
Confederate cavalry in a few minutes would be in 
Catlettsburg, capturing rich government stores and 
private booty, and, perhaps, would not stop at 



390 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

carrying away as much stores as they might choose, 
but would burn the town as well. But when the 
troopers had come within three hundred yards of 
the ford over Sandy, all stopped as suddenly as if 
a thunder-bolt had struck both horse and rider 
dead. The soldiers remained sitting on their 
reined-in steeds as if in a short consultation. Their 
halt or check-up added consternation to the few 
denizens of the anticipated ill-fated town at the 
Mouth. The consultation of the troopers was at 
an end in less than two minutes, when the whole 
regiment turned about and rode away in the di- 
rection from which they came. Both joy and won- 
der filled the hearts and minds of every beholder 
who viewed the maneuvers of the troops. 

Why they came so near the town with no ob- 
stacle to their coming or staying, and why, when 
within two minutes' ride of all that would gladden 
the hearts of men half fed and clothed, was a pro- 
found mystery, but was made plain Avithin less 
than twenty-four hours. On the morning in ques- 
tion Solomon McBrayer, a citizen of the East Fork 
country, who had moved into town for a temporary 
purpose, was living with his family in the old 
Catlett house, since torn down. McBrayer had 
persuaded two young men, refugees from Virginia, 
to accompany him that morning on a squirrel-hunt 
in the dense forest lying between the Sandy River 
and Ceredo. Having no guns, they by some de- 
vice procured each a government Enfield rifle. The 



A CLOSE CALL. 391 

trio walked to Hampton City, an upper suburb of 
Catlettsburg, crossed the Sandy, and went up to 
near the upper end of the woods near Ceredo. 
They were in sight of the troopers as they passed 
down the road, and the men believing capture, and, 
perhaps, death would be their fate if they returned 
to town before the Confederate soldiers had left, 
and fearful that their lurking-place might be dis- 
covered on the return of the troops, concluded to 
seek a safer retreat, and also one from which they 
could view the force on its return from sacking 
Catlettsburg, discovering thereby the result of the 
raid. They hastened toward Twelve Pole Creek, 
keeping near the hill which reached from the Sandy 
to almost Twelve Pole, so they might not be ob- 
served. Coming to the Creek, they easily crossed 
over, and ran up the hill by the residence of Fred. 
Holden, who was a brother-in-law of Congressman 
Eli Thayer, who founded Ceredo. Immediately on 
the top of the hill, or rather cliff, a dense growth 
of trees and underwood were interlocked, making 
it impossible for any passer-by on the road, which 
lay at the foot of the cliff, to see any one within 
two hundred feet of him. 

A soldier living nearly opposite Ceredo, in Ohio, 
was at home on a furlough, and had his Enfield 
with him. Seeing the troops passing down in the 
direction of Catlettsburg, and expecting their return 
after they had sacked the town, he took up his gun 
and walked down near the edge of the water in the 



392 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Ohio River, a dense willow thicket having grown 
up, and a large pile of drift accumulated in the 
preceding Spring freshet. Behind the drift-pile he 
placed himself, and, concealed by the willows, 
awaited the return of the raiders. They returned 
much sooner than he had anticipated. When the 
man took his position in the willow thicket, he in- 
tended to fire into the ranks of the soldiers as they 
passed back on the highway. But when the cav- 
alrymen reached a point where at that time stood a 
large mill, and perceived a road leading down the 
river bank (just below Ceredo), they turned in that 
direction, and kept on to the river for the purpose 
of watering their horses. The man in the thicket 
took aim and slew one of the troopers, who fell 
into the river. Two of his comrades jumped from 
their horses, hastily raised the dead man from the 
water, and, placing him before another soldier, the 
whole party, carrying their comrade with them, 
scampered away. Ten minutes brought them to the 
place where Sol. McBrayer and his companions were 
lying in ambush. Riding in haste, and greatly 
chagrined at their ill-undertaken expedition, they 
were not looking for any more danger ahead, as 
they were beyond the range of a ball from a gun 
fired from the Ohio shore. But how often is it 
that the very moment we feel most secure is the 
one we are in most danger ! When the troops 
were immediately opposite the ambush, the three 
concealed hunters all fired at once, yelling at the 



A CLOSE CALL. 393 

top of their voices to an imaginary main body of 
troops to come to the front and fire in companies, 
leaving the impression on the minds of the surprised 
raiders that a large Union force had collected to cut 
off their retreat. The men in ambush discovered that 
two of the fleeing raiders had been wounded by 
their shots, and news reached Catlettsburg after- 
wards that they had both died. 

The Confederates hastened on to Guyandotte, to 
meet the frown and receive the rebuke of the colo- 
nel of the regiment, who had given strict orders to 
his men to keep away from Catlettsburg. Many of 
the men had been recruited in the neighborhood of 
Guyandotte, and the colonel had permission to go 
with them there, that the men might visit their 
families, and procure, if possible, a better outfit of 
clothing and camp equipage. On the morning of 
the attempted raid some of the officers and men told 
the colonel that it would be a good thing to go 
down to Catlettsburg and sack the town. But the 
commander forbade it in the most positive terms ; 
"for,'^ said he ^^I have many friends in Catletts- 
burg, some of whom are Union people, and I can ^t 
find it in my heart to inflict an injury on them, 
especially so when it is probable that if we should 
go down there and raid the government stores, a 
greater calamity would be visited on us than we 
might scourge them with.'' But, the colonel being 
absent from his command for an hour or so, 
the restive subordinate officers resolved to go, in 



394 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

disobedience to the order of their chief. On return- 
ing to head-quarters, the colonel was overwhelmed 
with anger to find the men away, and, on learning 
where they had gone, hastily wrote an order, and 
put it in the hands of a safe courier, mounted on a 
fleet charger, commanding the messenger to travel 
with all speed, and, if possible, overtake the men 
before they reached Catlettsburg ; but if not so suc- 
cessful, to go into the town and bring the men 
away, and to tell them to leave their plunder behind. 
Sol. McBrayer, two or three days after these 
stirring events, went to Louisa and volunteered in 
the 39th Kentucky Infantry, and a day or two 
after, while sitting on a dry-goods box, a rusty nail 
projecting through the wood scratched his thigh, 
causing a slight abrasion of the skin, producing 
gangrene, which terminated in his death within 
twenty-four hours. His widow's pension runs back 
to the day of his death. 



MORE ABOUT MAGOFFIN. 

That part of Magoffin County west of the main 
Licking was, up to 1860, a part of Floyd County, 
and the people living in there were not only bound 
together in county relations with Floyd, but their 
social and commercial relations were identical. 
Hence, in sketching the history of the people of 
the Sandy Valley, the citizens of the territory 
named come under the same head as those of the 



MORE ABOUT MAGOFFIN. 395 

Sandy Valley proper, though not in the Sandy 
Valley. 

The Patrick family was well known from the 
settlement of the ancestors of Reuben, Elijah, 
Wiley, and other sons, and of Mrs. Neri SAveatnum, 
daughter of the ancestral Patrick, who founded the 
house in the Sandy and Licking country in an early 
period of Sandy history, settling on the Burning 
Fork of Licking, about twenty miles from Preston- 
burg. From the day of the coming of the elder 
Patrick to the present time, the family has held a 
high rank in social, intellectual, material, and 
Church progress in the affairs in the country. 

Captain Wiley Patrick married a daughter of 
German Huff, of Paintsville, Ky. This brave 
Union officer was killed while gallantly leading his 
men in battle in one of the hotly contested fields 
of Georgia. Reuben married, as has already been 
said, a daughter of General Hager, while Elijah 
also married into an old house of Sandy — a Miss 
Rule. The Patricks were old-time Whigs, and are 
now Republicans. They are members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, and are an aggressive, force- 
ful people. 

The Praters, like the Patricks, were early com- 
ers to the same locality, and have run on the same 
line with the Patricks. They are a solid people, 
and many of them have intermarried with the prom- 
inent people of the valley. 

The Powers, too, from their early settlement in 



396 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

the same section of country, have ever maintained 
a high place in the affairs of honor and respecta- 
bility in their section. They are Democrats in 
politics. John Powers was a captain in the Union 
army. 

ADAMS FAMILY. 

No FAMILY in the section of the three last 
named were more forceful in the material affairs of 
the country round about Licking Station, now Sal- 
yersville, than the Adams family. William Adams, 
the second in descent from the early pioneer of his 
house, during his long and useful life (which ter- 
minated in about 1879), was to his section what 
Judge Archibald Borders, of Peach Orchard, was 
to his. He was not only a large farmer, but a 
merchant, manufacturer, and hotel-keeper. He 
carried on a large tannery, shoe-shop, saddlery, 
flour-mill, etc., with great profit to himself, giving 
employment to a multitude of men. The energy of 
William Adams took such deep root that Salyers- 
ville has to this day maintained a reputation as 
being the chief manufacturing center in East Ken- 
tucky, east of the Licking. This has been stimu- 
lated by the push and pluck of the Adkinson 
brothers (Ohio men), aided in no little degree by 
D. Milt. Hager, a brother of John F. Hager, who 
was educated on the Sandy. William Adamses 
brother settled on Burning Fork, and, like his 
brother William, maintained a lofty position as an 
excellent citizen. 



MORE ABOUT MAGOFFIN. 397 

William Adams's children and grandchildren 
have come to honor. One son, Smith, was captain 
in the Union army during the great civil conflict, 
and sustained himself nobly in that position. All 
are prominent people. 

Austin Litteral was on Little Paint, in Magoffin 
County, in early times, where he obtained an im- 
mense boundary of land, giving a large farm to 
each of his numerous children. He was an old- 
time, zealous, Methodist layman, and a man of high 
character. He still lives, well up in eighty, to bless 
the world with his many virtues. He had a brother 
living near Greasy, on Big Sandy, who was equally 
distinguished in his day. He was one of the lead- 
ing old-time Sandy timber-traders. He died before 
the great Avar, leaving a large and respectable fam- 
ily behind, still prominent on Sandy. 

James Turner, near Paintsville, was an old set- 
tler, and was one of the well-known men of the 
valley. He reared a large and respectable family, 
who are connected by matrimonial alliances with 
many of Big Sandy's noted people. One of his 
daughters married a Stambaugh, whose children 
are a bright, thrifty group in Johnson. Br. 
Turner, a physician of mark in Paintsville, is 
James Turner's son. ''Sud" Turner, another, 
though erratic, is a brainy fellow. The other chil- 
dren are notable. 

The Salyers family is very numerous, and mostly 
found in Magoffin and Johnson Counties. The 



398 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

county seat of Magoffin was named after the repre- 
sentative of that name, who was in the Legislature 
when the new county was formed. Hon. John 
Salyers is a lawyer and an intellectual man. He 
has held official position in a governmental depart- 
ment at Washington. Ben. F. Salyers has for a 
generation been hotel-keeper at Flat Gap. He has 
a son living there, who is a lawyer. Many more 
of the Salyers family might be named as promi- 
nent people. 

WALTER FAMILY. 

The father of Robert and Calvin Walter and 
their sisters — Mrs. James Graham and Mrs. Win- 
frey Holbrook, both of Blaine — was a noted Bap- 
tist preacher in Bussell County, Virginia, where 
he died in about 1818. The widow and her chil- 
dren moved to Blaine soon after, where Robert 
married the daughter of Neri Sweatnum, and set- 
tled on a large farm. Here he lived until his death, 
in 1878 or ^79, his wife having died two years 
before. 

Mr. Walter left three sons and four daughters. 
E. L. Walter is a wealthy old bachelor, living on 
one of his farms on Blaine. M. M. Walter, the 
youngest son, is an extensive farmer in the vicinity, 
owning and living on the old homestead of his 
father. The other son is a wealthy farmer and 
county officer in Kansas. The oldest daughter is 
the wife of Judge J. R. Dean, of Lawrence ; the 



THE WHEELERS. 399 

next is the wife of the author of this book; while 
the youngest daughter and child is the wife of 
Wm. Wood, a prominent farmer and stock-trader in 
the western part of Lawrence County. The re- 
maining daughter is the wife of John Sturgill, a 
farmer in Kansas. 

Robert's brother, Calvin, married a sister of 
William Jefferson Ward, of Johnson, who was an 
aunt of Rev. Z. Meek, D. D. Calviu raised three 
sons, who are numbered among the good citizens of 
Johnson County. The father has been dead several 
years. 

THE WHEELERS 

Abe scattered all over the Sandy Valley. A very 
numerous family of them are citizens of the Blaine 
country. The ancestors of this branch arrived in 
Blaine at an early day, from North Carolina and 
South-west Virginia. The family are nearly all 
Baptists, and several preachers of that faith have 
gone out from the house of Wheeler. Lawyers and 
doctors have also added to the importance of the 
family. 

Another branch of the numerous house is found 
near Paintsville. Daniel Wheeler is a prominent 
old citizen, and having married a Miss Hager, a 
niece of the General, brings him into relationship 
with many of the strong families of the valley. 
His son, Samuel Wheeler, married Miss Van Horn, 
a daughter of John Van Horn, late of Boyd, and a 



400 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

well-known, old-time Sandian. A daughter of 
Daniel Wheeler is the wife of Dr. J. F. Hatton, of 
Rockville, and another daughter is the wife of 
George Sick, of the noted house of that name in 
Pike. While George's family name is a burden to 
carry through life, he is one of the healthiest men 
in the valley. 

Daniel Wheeler, like his namesakes over on 
Blaine, is a Baptist ; but while they are ^^ united '' 
in the faith, he is equally emphatic in his " Free- 
Will '' Baptist principles. He is a large farmer, 
and has coal mined from his rich deposits of the 
black diamonds. 

SAMUEL PORTER 

Was an early settler on the Sandy, only a little 
later in coming than the Hagers, Laynes, etc. He 
married into the prominent family of the Damrons, 
who are found living in the valley from Pike 
County, Ky., to Twelve Pole, Wayne County, W. Va. 
Mr. Porter was a sharp business man, and in his 
day was one of the largest land-owners in the 
Sandy Valley. He owned the entire valley of 
Miller's Creek, now Johnson County, and many 
broad acres on the waters of Little Paint, in Floyd 
County, besides a great boundary on the Sandy 
Piver, where his daughter, Mrs. Bird Preston, and 
family reside. Mr. Porter was of a jovial turn of 
mind, and delighted in fast horses and other sources 
of amusement. He raised a large family of chil- 



SAMUEL PORTER. 401 

dren, who became and those now living still are, 
prominent people of the valley. 

Walker Porter, a son of Samuel Porter, was, 
during his life, one of the bright men of Preston- 
burg. A daughter of Walker's is the wife of Dick 
Mayo, a bright scion of the old famous house of 
Mayo. 

John Porter was a large farmer on the Sandy 
River, above the mouth of Miller's Creek, but sold 
his farm, moved to Catlettsburg, and went into the 
hotel business. But, owing to the heavy loss sus- 
tained by him in the two great floods, and other 
unforeseen disasters, he has been reduced from af- 
fluence, but, with a heroic courage peculiar to the 
Porters, is battling to gain the summit of the hill of 
prosperity. He married a daughter of Judge 
Thomas Brown, of Paintsville, and has a family 
noted for grace and sprightliness of mind. Henrv 
Porter, the oldest son, a very bright and promis- 
ing young man, met with a frightful accident in 
1885, by the accidental discharge of the pistol 
of a guest who was passing the weapon to his care 
while he remained a guest at his father's hotel. 
This sad affair caused the amputation of one of his 
lower limbs. But in due time he was restored to 
strength, and on procuring an artificial limb, ob- 
tained a lucrative position suitable to his condition 
in Cincinnati, where for some time he has been en- 
gaged. John Porter's oldest daughter married 
Glen Ford, an only child, and son of James R, 

34 



402 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Ford and Sally, his wife. Glen has the largest 
material expectations of any young man in Cat- 
lettsburg. 

Hon. James Porter, another son of Samuel Por- 
ter, has represented Floyd and Johnson Counties 
in the Kentucky Legislature. Logan, another son, 
is a merchant and farmer on John's Creek. 

Another daughter of Samuel Porter is the wife 
of Mr. Burgess, a son of the late Edward Burgess, 
of Lawrence. He lives on Miller\s Creek, being a 
well-to-do farmer. Samuel Porter and wife have 
been dead several years, both living to a good 
old age. 

Mr. Porter was able to give all of his children 
a large, productive farm, and then have plenty left 
for himself to use as long as he lived. 



THE BOOTENS, 

While not a numerous Sandy family, have always 
occupied a good place in the moral, intellectual, 
and material affairs of the Lower Sandy Valley. 
The wife of the late Major Bolt, who was the 
father of Montraville Bolt, the latter well advanced 
in years, was a Booten. This lady was noted for 
the vigor of her mind, and for her great kindness 
of heart, showing every mark of an old-time cul- 
tured Virginian. This venerable woman died in 
either 1885 or ^SQy near ninety years of age. Her 
mental powers were clear up to the last, and she 



THE BOOTENS. 403 

did not give down in physical strength till over 
eighty. Major Bolt and wife reared a family of 
great respectability. 

Captain J. M. Ferguson^s wife is of another 
branch of the same family of Bootens. 

Ralph Booten, a prominent lawyer of Preston- 
burg, is of the near Louisa branch of Bootens. 
Ralph Booten, in addition to his law practice and 
the time heretofore given to the duties of county 
official life, has lately, with another, started into 
life an industry which, though small, is destined 
to add more wealth to Prestonburg than the carry- 
ing on of the largest store in the valley. Stores 
are great conveniences to a community, and the 
occupation is an honorable one, but they add no 
wealth to a country, while a manufactory adds 
wealth in proportion to the amount of material 
found in nature in its raw state, which is taken up 
by skillful workmen, and transformed into useful ar- 
ticles, to add to the comfort and happiness of man. 
The difference between the price of the raw wood 
and iron of which a common road-wagon is made 
and the worth of the wagon when completed is the 
amount of wealth added to the community at large, 
the capitalist, of course, gaining his profits out of 
the things produced ; but as he is a component 
part of the community, the whole county is bene- 
fited as well as himself. The little outcropping 
at Prestonburg in mechanical life is a forerunner 
of the time not far distant when the town that was 



404 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

asleep in material life for sixty years will become a 
manufacturing center on Sandy, as it is the geo- 
graphical center in the valley. The boy who 
shaves out a shingle, and stops a leak in the roof 
of a house, adds to the world's wealth the price of 
the shingle, while the boy who cuts off a yard of 
calico for a customer, adds no wealth to any one, 
and yet the latter feels himself above the former. 
But he is not. 

THE McGUIRES, OF LAWRENCE. 

Nicholas McGuire is of Irish descent, and 
married a Miss Rogers, of the same nationality. 
They settled near Louisa, in Lawrence County, 
about sixty years ago (now 1887)'. Mr. McGuire 
opened up a fine farm two miles below Louisa, 
where the family still reside. The wife of Nicholas 
McGuire came of one of the most substantial fam- 
ilies in Cincinnati. The Rogerses, for more than 
half a century, have been amongst the notable busi- 
ness men of the Queen City, and intermarrying 
into prominent families, still increases their high 
social and business standing. The McGuires are 
devout Catholics, as are also the Rogerses; but 
while holding tenaciously to eVery tenet of the 
Catholic creed, so careful are they to avoid giving 
their Protestant neighbors offense that no friction 
has ever been manifest in their intercourse with 
the people in religious, social, or business life. It 
can be said that, instead of repelling from the 



THE McGUIRES, OF LA WRENCE. 405 

McGuire household, it has attracted to themselves 
the love of many and the respect of all their Prot- 
estant neighbors. 

A large family of both sons and daughters 
blessed the union of Nicholas McGuire and wife. 
The sons, on coming to man's estate, developed 
into keen business men, some going into railroading, 
others into the steamboat business and general 
trading, while others still are farmers. The daugh- 
ters are ladies of uncommon sprightliness. Nearly, 
or quite all, of the large household of daughters, in 
addition to the good * domestic training given to 
them by their well-qualified mother, received a 
finished education at one of the best convent schools 
of the Catholic Church, giving them a polish of 
manners pleasing to all intelligent observers. 
Louisa, and, indeed, Lawrence County and the val- 
ley at large, is much better by the McGuires hav- 
ing lived there. 

The old gentleman, Nicholas McGuire, is high 
up in eighty — indeed, can almost reach over to the 
ninetieth yearly mile-stone, set on life's highway ; 
but, with all these years upon him, he is as 
hale and hearty as a man of sixty. His devoted 
wife, while some years younger than her liege lord, 
is not so robust in health as he, yet is able to 
move around, cheering the household with the sun- 
shine peculiar to one who has all along life's jour- 
ney honored the great Father by doing deeds of 
kindness to her children and neighbors. 



406 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

THE PETERS FAMILY. 

Jacob Peters came to Lawrence County from 
Virginia about 1836 or 1837, and married a Miss 
See, who was a Garred on her mother's side. Jacob 
Peters and wife have raised a large family of chil- 
dren. The sons are good citizens and prosperous 
men. James, one of the sons, is a merchant and 
trader. He married the eldest daughter of Captain 
William Bartram, a highly educated lady. The 
Peterses are Democrats in politics. They set a 
good example for their countrymen to follow by 
their industry and economy. 



THE CLARKS, 

Of Pigeon, Logan County, West Virginia, are 
from farther over in Virginia, and while not among 
the oldest settlers, the family of Ira Clark, broth- 
ers and sisters, have always held a high rank in 
the business affairs of their locality. The ancestor 
of the present old generation of Clarks laid a good 
foundation for future prosperity when he settled in 
the valley, by opening up a large, productive farm 
and erecting a dwelling and other buildings, not 
only commensurate with the good farm, but in ad- 
vance of any other settler in the neighborhood. 
Dr. Waldron's wife is a Clark, the doctor being 
one of the progressive doctors on Tug. 

It not unfrequently happens that a family pre- 



JAMES STAIRS. 407 

eminent for their good social and moral position 
has some member in it that brings distress upon 
the rest of the family by some wicked or unmanly 
act. One unfortunate brother thus troubled the 
peace of the Clarks. Guy was an awful drunkard 
(unusual with the house of the Clarks), and lost all 
reason and restraint. He became so vindictive 
toward his wife and children that it brought him 
to a 'most tragic death, four miles above Catletts- 
burg, Boyd County, Ky., several years after the 
close of the Civil War. The wife and children had 
the sympathy of the community, which, to the great 
honor of the Clarks, was shared by them. 



JAMES STAIRS. 



Not far from the home of the Clarks, on Pigeon, 
lives James Stairs, a very old man, who has been 
living where he now lives many, many years. He 
is somewhat peculiar. He is a great economist, 
though by no means a miser. He never had any 
children to share his joys and sorrows, but he and 
his wife have been useful members of society. Mr. 
Stairs, by his industry and economy, has been a 
constant reminder to his neighbors of the value of 
time and the importance of improving every mo- 
ment of it in doing good, by laboring for the bread 
that perishes and for that which never is lost. 

Mr. Stairs is one of the most noted of the old- 
time Methodist laymen found in the valley. While 



408 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

very methodical and exact in his dealings, saving, 
and sharp in material matters, many years ago he 
built, without aid, a good stone church, and pre- 
sented it, free of incumbrance, to his Church (the 
Methodist Episcopal). The good old man had 
never studied architecture, and never traveled much 
to enable him to take up models of handsome 
church buildings; consequently the appearance of 
the church is a little out of modern style, yet, 
nevertheless, it stands on the roadside on Pigeon as 
a reminder to the passer-by that God is venerated 
and worshiped in that locality, and that Uncle 
Jimmy Stairs is his humble servant. 

Were the President of the United States to stop 
with this old servant of God, he would not be 
permitted to sleep at night nor eat in the morning 
until he joined the family in humble praise and 
thanksgiving to the Supreme Being for his good- 
ness and mercies to the children of men. 



THE LAWSONS, 

Of the Tug region, are of Virginia origin, and not 
many families in the valley exceed them in indus- 
try and personal enterprise, in devising honorable 
means to increase their individual wealth. 

Captain Mont. B. Lawson, who died in 1885, 
down South, where he had gone to recuperate his 
failing health, was a man of great force of charac- 
ter. As farmer, trader, and public citizen, he was 



THE RUTHERFORDS. 409 

for many years one of Pike County's most honored 
citizens. He was a great friend of common-school 
education, and favored all honorable methods to 
promote progress and advancement in the material 
wealth and betterment of his State and county. Dr. 
Lawson and his other brother are, like Montra- 
ville, men of energy, and rank high as useful, solid 
citizens in the Tug Valley. 



THE SMITHS, OF TUG. 

The father of Jacob Smith, the wealthy Pond 
merchant, and John Smith, a business man, now of 
Sandy City, came to the county when a boy, from 
Virginia. Jacob Smith, his son, is now, by a long 
course of work and saving, and by his keen busi- 
ness talent, employed in the accumulation of ma- 
terial wealth, properly set down as among the four 
or five very wealthy men of Pike County, as wealth 
is compared on Sandy. John Smith has erected an 
imposing dwelling in Hampton City, and also a 
long string of small tenement-houses, which, of 
course, have added to the prosperity of the place. 



THE RUTHERFORDS, 

On Tug, came from Virginia. Dr. Rutherford has 
for more than thirty years been known as one of 
the leading practitioners of medicine in the Tug 
Valley. Many other members of the family are 

35 



410 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

prominent people in the doctor's neighborhood. 
They are farmers and timbermen. 



THE SLATERS, 



Of Tug, are of an old Virginia family, having 
emigrated to the Sandy country at an early day. 
The daughters became the wives of some of the 
leading men of the county. The family is an in- 
fluential one on Tug. .^ 



THE TAYLORS 



"Were from Virginia, also, in an early day. Green 
Taylor, of Tug, is a very forceful man, and has 
had much experience in mercantile life. He is now 
a farmer. Mitchell Runyon's wife is one of the 
same branch of Taylors. 



"OLD TOM HACKNEY" 

Was a noted character of Sandy almost from time 
immemorial. 

In all mountain regions there are places found 
where the natural make-up of the locality seems to 
defy Nature in her diversity of uniformity, ignores 
all laws governing topography, geology, mineral- 
ogy, and almost challenges geography itself. Such 
a place is seen as one passes along the banks of the 
Levisa Fork, as it plows through the mountain pass 



•' OLD TOM hackney:' 411 

from Wise County, Virginia, into Pike County, 
Kentucky. Here for a long time lived Tom Hack- 
ney. To say that he partook of the wild and slip- 
shod appearance of the view spread out before you, 
would hardly be true; but, rather, Mr. Hackney 
was part of the wild scene himself. He did not 
drink in the rugged views surrounding him, that 
being impossible; but, rather, he was a part of the 
wildest crags of the partially torn-down glomerate, 
an unseemly, misshapen limb of one of the scraggy 
pines that had hard work to reach downward and 
find soil and moisture sufficient to retain the size 
and strength it had already attained before it was 
diverted to other little sproutlet pines striving to 
assume tree manhood. He was as uncomely in 
person and dress as the half-starved, stunted timber 
of the place. In speech he was not only uncouth, 
but vulgar. But he was a fair liver, and many 
noted men have, in times gone by, partaken of his 
hospitality. General John C. Breckinridge has 
been his guest. Mr. Hackney must have had a 
good wife, for his descendants are by no means 
wild, like their ancestor. 

Captain O. C. Bowles, an Ohio man, who mar- 
ried a Sandy lady belonging to one of the proud 
families of Pike (a daughter of Judge William 
Cecil), in addition to farmer, merchant, timber- 
trader, lawyer, and law-maker, concluded, some 
fifteen years ago, to add steamboating to his other 
branches of business, and built a craft to ply on the 



412 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

waters of the Big Sandy from Pike to Catlettsburg. 
He gave to his craft the name of Tom Hackney, 
and, as the boat, or monster, came plowing through 
the water toward you, you instinctively felt like 
getting away, so hideous did it appear. When she 
made her landing you were made nervous by the 
threatening aspect of the paddle-wheels, raising 
their arms high up the sides of the boat, as if defy- 
ing you to come near at the peril of great danger. 
Should you be brave enough to go aboard, you 
would be amazed and almost horrified at the wild 
construction of the machinery used to propel the 
craft. And when the great cog-wheels met your 
gaze, you felt that all mechanical rules had been 
ignored in their construction. Captain Bowles 
being a man of learning, and not wishing to disre- 
gard all rules of steamboat construction, for a time 
tied the Tom Hackney to the bank, and set to work 
and built a real first-class Sandy steamer. But 
Captain Bowles had either a strength or weakness 
for naming his boats after some noted citizen of the 
county of his adoption. For his second venture, 
while constructing it, he chose the name of another . 
dweller at the foot of the Cumberland Mountains. 
This fortunate man was Jerry Oshurn. 

On going up the Sandy, a good half-day's ride 
or more above Pikeville, you come to Elk Horn, 
a branch of the Russell Fork of Sandy. Near the 
mouth of Elk Horn, in a wild and romantic spot, 
in about 1883 or '84, the celebrated ^^ mountain 



" OLD TOM hackney:' 413 

evangelist/' Rev. George O. Barnes, held a camp- 
meeting. When appointed, it was thought by many 
of his friends that thousands would flock to hear 
him expound the Word of Life ; but, instead, com- 
paratively a few attended the gathering of the 
Christian people who came in spite of hindrances. 
The population for miles around was but sparse, 
and the great inconveniences in reaching the camp 
were many. Therefore, with all the eloquence of 
Mr. Barnes, and the charming music of his gifted 
daughter, the camp-meeting was a failure. Near 
this spot a post-office has been established, named 
to commemorate one of Mr. Barnes's hourly ex- 
pressions, " Praise,'' with the last words left off. 

Passing up Elk Horn, you come across more 
Potters than can be found anywhere else in East- 
ern Kentucky. But they are only Potters by 
name, and not jug and crock makers. They are 
peaceable tillers of the narrow bottoms skirting the 
creek. After a few hours' ride you reach the home 
of Jerry Osburn, quite close to the celebrated 
Pound Gap, an opening in the huge mountain 
through which is a pass-way between Virginia and 
Kentucky. Mr. Osburn is an old-time citizen, and 
has lived nearly all his life in this, his romantic 
home. He is honored by his neighbors, and re- 
spected for his good citizenship. The people of 
Pike, a few years ago, elected him judge of their 
county, and it is due to the people of Pike, and to 
Hon. Mr. Osburn as well, to say that they made 



414 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

no mistake in clothing him in judicial robes. He 
was a good officer. He is a warm-hearted gentle- 
man, and for a long time in the past, as now, has 
ranked as one of Pikers solid men. 

Before the war, Mr. Osburn's place was noted 
in a commercial point of view. A great and pros- 
perous trade was kept, until destroyed by the Civil 
War. This trade reached from Saltville, Virginia, 
to the iron-works in Bath County, Ky., and on 
the Red River in the same State. Salt was hauled 
in wagons from the salt-works in Washington 
County, Va., to supply much of the demand in the 
counties of Pike, Letcher, Floyd, and Perry, and 
iron was taken back from the iron-works in Ken- 
tucky, and distributed as the great huge teams re- 
turned back -to Virginia. 

Judge Osburn's hotel was one of the most im- 
portant on the entire route. In addition to the 
calling of innkeeper, he kept on sale salt, iron, and 
other needful articles of merchandise, for the con- 
venience of his neighbors and to add to his own 
wealth. The Osburn place was a busy place until 
the traffic which kept it up was turned into other 
channels and other directions. But still the old 
judge is well provided for by the cultivation of a 
large farm. 

Captain Bowles's steamer, Jerry Osburn, proved 
to be a great success, and was a source of great 
profit; not owing, however, to the fact that she 
wore the honored name Jerry Osburn, but because 



THEN AND NOW. 415 

the brainy captain had learned by experience how 
to build a boat, and what kind of a boat to build, 
to make a success. Tom Hackney was the image 
of the wild nature surrounding him, and the steamer 
named to publish his name was an image of him. 



THEN AND NOW. 

The best means to find out what progress the 
Sandy Valley has made in the last quarter of a 
century is by taking into consideration the amount 
of mail matter taken up the valley, say in 1861, 
and the amount going up now (1887). In 1861 
old Stephen Bartram was the mail contractor and 
carrier between Catlettsburg and Pikeville, Ken- 
tucky. Many of the older people may call to mind 
" Uncle Steve's '' little white pacing-horse, on 
which the mails were canveyed, making two trips 
a week, if it did not rain too hard. All the mail 
matter could then be put into a good large pair of 
saddle-bags, such as travelers on horseback used to 
carry. In fact, the mail-bag was full to repletion 
not more than once a week on going up, and on com- 
ing down the postmaster had to shake carefully the 
bag to find any thing in it, on many occasions. 
Money was never sent through the mails before the 
Civil War, but the owner either brought it down 
to the Ohio River, and procured a draft at the 
nearest bank to the Mouth, or, if it was going to 
Cincinnati, sent it by the Honshell lin^ of steamers. 



416 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

The mails were so uncertain and slow in their 
movements in those days that few people in the 
Sandy gave them much attention. But now (1887), 
how changed ! 

Stephen Bartram appeared like an old man when 
he was carrying the mails up Sandy in 1861, but 
still lives, hearty although venerable. 

The bag that held all the mail matter then go- 
ing up the valley would not hold all the letters 
and papers now stopping between Catlettsburg and 
Catalpa. The amount has increased more than one- 
hundred-fold in twenty-five years. It would take 
two mail hacks, such as Green Meek uses in con- 
veying the mails from Richardson to Paintsville, 
to convey the Ashland mails up the valley. The 
increase is simply wonderful, and proves that the 
Sandy people have progressed in gaining knowl- 
edge and worldly wealth, according to the number 
of letters they send away and receive, and the num- 
ber of papers taken and read by them. 

In 1861 but few post-offices were found outside 
of the county towns ; now a post-office is established 
at almost every store in the valley. Not only the 
man of business looks anxiously for the approach 
of mail-day, but women and children are on the 
alert for the arrival of the mail-man, who brings 
letters and magazines and papers for mental food, 
as well as kind greetings and messages of love 
from dear ones afar; sometimes messages of sad- 
ness are conveyed by the mails, too, but it is as 



THE GREAT FLIGHT. All 

necessary to hear bad news, when it must be com- 
municated, by rapid transit through the mail as by 
a slower process. 

THE GREAT FLIGHT. 

Many exciting events occurred on the Sandy 
during the progress of the great civil conflict. The 
battle of Ivy Mountain was attended with great 
excitement and, of course, alarm, as men fell dead 
or wounded from the rain of shot and shell, pour- 
ing forth death and carnage. It was a serious day 
on Middle Creek when General Marshall, at the 
head of his Confederate band, and Colonel Gar- 
field, in chief command of the Federal forces, 
measured military strength with each other, and 
grape-shot and musket-balls rained down like hail- 
stones. It was fearful to think of. 

But, excepting the human slaughter, the excite- 
ment attending those battles sink into insignificance 
compared with the great scare and hegira which 
came off at the metropolis of the v^alley on the day 
of the Presidential election of 1864. Nearly a 
quarter of a century has been rolled up in the cur- 
tain of time, and but comparatively few of the old, 
or even middle-aged, residents of Catlettsburg are 
now living who witnessed the awful scenes through 
which the people were called to pass on that event- 
ful day at Catlettsburg. 

Wishing that events so stirring in their nature 
as those hinted at might be preserved from dying 



418 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

with the oldest man or woman at the Mouth, the 
author feels that he would not be a faithful chron- 
icler of events if he failed to give them a place in 
the history of the Big Sandy country. As the 
author was an eye-witness to the principal acts 
of that occasion, and, indeed, was a partial 
actor himself in the great rout, he is enabled to 
describe with accuracy and faithfulness the whole 
wonderful afiPair. 

As already stated, the Presidential election was 
being held in all of the United States, but the in- 
habitants living in the States not united paid no 
attention to the election for President of the United 
States. But in Kentucky, while not a very strongly 
united State, all who chose voted either for Abraham 
Lincoln or George B. McClellan. A number of 
soldiers had come home to Catlettsburg to vote. 
Some availed themselves of the privilege, and some 
did not. The election at the Mouth created no ex- 
citement whatever. The author was acting as sheriff 
at the polls, while W. O. Hampton, then a promi- 
nent young lawyer, was the clerk. Who the judges 
were, the author fails to remember; but as long as 
memory lingers he will never fail to remember the 
awful scare and suspense w^hich came over him and 
many of his fellow-citizens at the hour of half-past 
three o'clock P. M., on that day, which will ever 
be noted in Catlettsburg annals, not as the day of 
the great national election, but as the day of the 
great scare. 



THE GREAT FLIGHT. 419 

At the hour named a hideous noise was heard. 
The sound came from the upper end of Louisa 
Street. The author rushed to the door, when a 
sight met his eyes which beggars description, and 
the sounds heard were equally indescribable. Men, 
women, and children were rushing pell-mell down 
the street, screaming at the top of their voices, 
^^The rebels are coming! The rebels are coming P^ 
At every jump the affrighted runners made, they 
would look back over their shoulders to see what 
headway the gray-coats were making. In the din 
of noise made by their yells they roused a lazy dog 
of Alex. Botts's from his slumber in the yard, and 
he joined in the chase. The agonizing yells of the 
hurrying mob and Alec's dog stirred up an old 
cow that had been reposing in a dog-fennel bed, 
and she took to her heels and ran down the street, 
giving out a bawl as she plowed through the ex- 
cited crowd, that added largely to the pandemonium 
of noises. The event here narrated as being witnessed 
by me did not occupy over a fourth of a minute. 
I turned to the judges and the amiable clerk, and 
said that, if they did not object, as sheriff I would 
for the present declare the polls closed. There 
being no objection, I announced the close, in a 
monosyllable, saying to my brother officers that I 
wished to go to my store and lock the door. I 
walked away with great dignity, as I was at the 
time the town deputy sheriff, and it would have 
seemed bad for the sheriff of Boyd to appear 



420 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

excited on such an occasion, when it was his duty to 
lend, by his noble bearing, confidence to those not 
clothed in official robes. As I stepped along Louisa 
Street, I did not increase the frequency of my steps, 
but I measured out the length of each step more 
than usual in distance. In a minute I was at the 
corner now known as the Opera-house corner, and, 
on looking down the street, I saw my hopeful son 
Charles, then a lad of fourteen Summers, or rather 
Winters, pacing backwards and forwards, with a gun 
raised sentinel-like, acting precisely like a trained 
veteran. I hurried on down to the store — at that 
time the only building on that side of the street after 
the old frame was passed where the great temple of 
song now stands, save the old Catlett House, which 
stood back from the street — and took the gun from 
the brave lad and pushed it under the platform in 
front of the store-door, and told Charley he had 
better go home. I should not fail to mention that 
Pleasant Savage, Esq., father of Judge Savage, had 
given the gun in my charge, to keep for him until 
he called for it. Finding that the musket was 
more dangerous in the muzzle than in the breech, 
I carefully set it in an out-of-the-way corner, as a 
silent sentinel. Never till then had it been called 
into use, except on dress parade. 

On looking up I heard the clatter of horses^ 
hoofs, as if coming down Louisa Street ; but whether 
the number was fifty or five hundred, in my des- 
perate state I could not divine. A half-minute had 



THE GREAT FLIGHT. 421 

not passed before the great cavalcade came in sight, 
when, lo and behold ! instead of the stars and bars, 
with soldiers dressed in gray, the riders were my 
own friends and townsmen, not wearing any uni- 
form, but very independent in the cut, make-up, 
and color of their clothes. How much one, on 
great occasions, can take in and digest in the mind ! 
As the flying troopers turned into Division Street, 
and whirled round on Center, I could but notice 
the contrast in the horses of the braves, and the 
variety of suits in which they were clad. But 
more especially did my eyes take in the picturesque 
display of garments. Some were clad in the blue 
and trappings of the Union officer, and others in 
the dress of the private soldier. Some, again, wore 
long-tail coats, and some had on short-tail coats; 
but one at least had no coat of any pattern to im- 
pede the progress of his march. He had neither 
coat nor vest, and his pants were held up by the 
aid of one suspender. This great scene was all 
taken in in less than thirty seconds of time. 

As the scared host appeared at the entrance to 
Division Street, the tall, commanding figure of 
some great military hero met my gaze; it proved 
to be that great old veteran, Colonel John L. Zeig- 
ler. While the main body pushed down Center 
Street, he kept on down Division, at the risk of 
death or capture, while all others were intent on 
personal safety. 

As he drew nearer I thought the grandest 



422 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

sight that I had ever beheld met my vision. He 
was dressed in the uniform of a colonel, with mil- 
itary cap and spurs, the same he had worn on many 
a hotly contested skirmish and battle in the Vir- 
ginias, while commanding the 5th Virginia Infantry, 
which command, after two years of hard and hon- 
orable service, he had resigned, being succeeded by 
A. A. Tomlinson, a Catlettsburg boy, now one of 
the wealthy men of Kansas City, Mo. The brave 
old colonel was riding his old war-horse, which had 
carried its master oftentimes into the thickest of 
the fight, and on this solemn occasion seemed to be 
clothed in all its former glory. 

As the colonel approached me, under a swift 
lope, his right hand clutching the bridle-reins and 
also resting on the horn of the saddle, and his left 
hand waving high in air as he dashed along, ex- 
claiming in tones of thunder that the people must 
get out of their houses, his body sitting erect in 
the saddle, his long gray hair streaming out from 
under his cap, caused by the swift motion of his 
steed, and his eyes apparently emitting fire in the 
excitement of the hour, it was a sight that few are 
permitted to see more than once in a generation. 

Walking swiftly to Andrews' corner, and look- 
ing down the grade, I saw that the wharf-boat and 
a consort of barges had been cut from their moor- 
ings at the wharf, and were floating out into the 
current of the Ohio. The boats were laden with 
Government stores. Hastening on down to Main 



THE GREAT FLIGHT. 423 

Street and out to the intersection with Center, but 
looking up Center to make sure no enemy was in 
sight or hearing, I turned down Center to recon- 
noiter. Before going many steps, I saw men pour- 
ing out of North Street, some riding tall mules, 
some on the backs of poor mules, some on mules 
with sore backs, and some perched on mules with 
very sharp backs. Many of the riders — most of 
them, indeed — were employes in the Government 
stables, and the mules they rode were Government 
animals; John Vannata, the chief hostler, was 
anxious to have the men ride the poor beasts out 
of danger. The last I saw of this tail-end delega- 
tion, moving forward to join their comrades, they 
were turning into the street, or road, below John 
Falkner^s present residence, each one looking back 
over his shoulder to see if the enemy was upon him. 

The observer went back up-town, and, seeing 
Judge Rice sitting on his porch, called to him to 
know what his opinion was in regard to the Con- 
federates being near town. The judge said he did 
not believe that an armed Confederate was within 
fifty miles of the town. I agreed with him ; yet he 
believed what he said, while I only hoped that it 
might prove correct. Walking on up to the voting- 
place, Mr. Hampton, the clerk, told me that the 
whole thing was a false alarm ; indeed, was a farce. 

The children of Hampton City went to school 
out at the Murphy place, and the school was dis- 
missed at three o'clock, as most of the pupils 



424 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

were of tender years. On leaving the school-house 
on that day, a little boy said to his friends that 
they must play soldier by forming in line, and 
marching into town. He procured a breakfast- 
shawl from one of the little girls, tied the garment 
to the end of a hoop-pole found near by, and was 
joined by another boy, who procured two sticks by 
the road-side, and with these drummed on his tin 
dinner-bucket. With banner flying and drum 
beating, the young soldiers were soon filing round 
what is now known as Cemetery Hill, in sight of 
Hampton City. 

A woman, whose husband was engaged in 
the war, owned a little brindle cow, which had lain 
out the night before, but when it came up, though 
at an unseasonable hour, she concluded to go out 
with her pail and extract the lacteal fluid from the 
bovine's udder. When she was about half done 
milking, the little cow made a lunge, upset the 
bucket, spilling contents on the ground, and started 
ofl* in great affright. The woman, on raising up, 
happened to cast her eyes in the direction of the 
Cemetery Hill, and caught a glimpse of the soldiers 
mentioned. She imagined them to be Confederate 
soldiers, coming in for pillage, and cried out in 
alarm at the top of her voice. The cry was taken 
up by men several hundred yards nearer Catletts- 
burg, that the rebels were coming, which brought 
out all the inhabitants of the hamlet of Hampton 
City, who, on a running jump, entered the town 



THE GREAT FLIGHT. 425 

with a loud outcry : " The rebels are coming ! the 
rebels are coming V^ 

After the excitement had somewhat subsided, 
the election went on as before, and all, when as- 
sured of the cause of the scare, laughed heartily, 
and resumed their usual vocations, but expressed 
some interest as to the whereabouts of their fleeing 
brethren, who had started toward the setting sun. 
The people who had not been able to get away 
were anxious to hear whether the great crowd of 
men who had ridden so hurriedly away had made 
a stand at Ashland, five miles below; or had they 
crossed over into Ohio and pushed on to the alum- 
cliflPs on the Scioto, where they could easily throw 
up fortifications, and hold the fort against all the 
Confederates in Kentucky? Or, on reaching Ash- 
land, had they turned to the left, hurried on to 
Carter Caves, and taken refuge in those subterra- 
nean recesses of mother earth, blocking the entrance 
to their retreat by rolling the great stones found in 
the caves across the entrance? 

But the anxiety of the home folks was soon re- 
lieved by the arrival of one of Ashland^s citizens, 
who had come up to let the friends of the absentees 
know that they had fallen into the hands of kind 
friends, who were willing to protect them to the 
last extremity. The messenger found many evi- 
dences of rapid flight on the road the braves had 
passed over, such as overcoats, saddle-girths, broken 
horseshoes, pint bottles. The bottles were empty, 

36 



426 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

however. The owners were cool-headed enough to 
know that bottles filled with fire-water, falling into 
the hands of the Confederates, would only stimu- 
late them to greater speed. When Night had 
drawn the curtain of darkness over the earth, the 
men returned to their homes, coming, however, in 
ones and twos, and were not seen very much in 
public for several days, when the matter had grown 
somewhat stale by the intervention of other excit- 
ing scenes. 

While the author witnessed almost all that took 
place, he has no remembrance of any one of the 
excited men who left the place, save alone the late 
brave Colonel John L. Zeigler, who certainly man- 
ifested great bravery in delaying his exit from 
town to warn his townsmen of what he thought to 
be immediate danger, and all at the risk of his own 
life, or liberty at least. 



TWO CHURCHES. 



In writing the history of the Big Sandy Valley, 
it would be a dereliction of duty to pass over the 
two divisions of Methodism in the Sandy Valley ; 
that is to say, to give a history of the Methodist 
Church in the valley immediately following the 
great separation at the General Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844, soon after 
which the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was 
organized. 



TWO CHURCHES. 427 

In the Sandy Valley, or that part of it lying 
exclusively in the State of Kentucky (for of that 
territory alone will we now write), the members 
of the Church, either by their votes or by acqui- 
escence, adhered to the fortunes of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South. This was true of the 
Methodist Church from Catlettsburg to Pikeville, 
Kentucky, save only at Louisa, and a country 
Church or two in the west part of Lawrence County, 
and, several years later (1854), one at Catlettsburg. 
At Louisa Robert D. Callihan, a wealthy local 
preacher, and Mrs. Jones, widow of Daniel Jones, 
Mrs. Sarah Savage, mother of Judge Savage — 
both ladies of the highest religious and social po- 
sition — with Rev. George Hutchison, the father 
of Rev. I. B. Hutchison, and a few others, organ- 
ized a Methodist Episcopal Church soon after the 
separation, and built a small brick church, which 
is still used as such by the denomination that built 
it. A log church was built on the lands of Rev. 
George Hutchison, five miles west of Louisa, soon 
after the Louisa church was constructed, and per- 
haps a church, or at least a preaching place, still 
farther from Louisa. At Catlettsburg, in 1854, a 
Methodist Episcopal Church was organized with 
about a dozen members ; and in 1857 the Catletts- 
burg Church built their excellent house of worship, 
which still well serves the purpose for whom and 
for which it was built. 

Save these places named, the Methodist Epis- 



428 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

copal Church, South, was the only branch of Meth- 
odism in the valley until 1864. The great Civil 
War affected the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
in the valley to a great extent, and for a time 
(three or four years), in many localities on Sandy, 
its places of worship were closed, and its altars had 
fallen into decay. 

In 1864 ministers were sent into the valley 
from the West Virginia Conference, Methodist 
Episcopal Church, to preach and organize Churches, 
and as the people were hungry for preaching, many 
joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and con- 
siderable progress was made in organizing charges. 

In the year 1866 the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, held its first General Conference 
after the war, and made some fundamental 
changes in the polity and rules of that Church,, 
such as providing for Church and district confer- 
ences, thus bringing the laymen to the front in 
Church affairs, and abolishing the probationary 
system. These enactments by the General Confer- 
ence touched the hearts and minds of the laymen, 
who immediately, with the preachers leading, set 
about the restoration of the Church of their choice 
in the valley. That was twenty years ago. At 
that time all was chaos. From the Minutes of 
the Western Virginia Conference, which has a pre- 
siding elder's district in Kentucky, mostly in the 
Sandy Valley, it is recorded that the Church had, 
in 1886, 4,757 members, 42 churches, and raised 



TWO NEW CHURCHES. 429 

for Church purposes, in one year, $5,405.56. The 
statistics of the Methodist Episcopal Church, em- 
bracing the same topics for the same year, as taken 
from the Minutes of that Church, are as follows: 
Members, including probationers, 2,412; churches, 
32; raised for ministerial support and Church 
benevolences, $4,358.17. The presiding elders' dis- 
tricts do not precisely cover the same territory, but 
are not far from equal ; for where one is found in a 
separate field alone, the other is occupying a small 
territory not occupied by the other. 

The reflections to be made are, that instead of 
either branch of the Church being in the other's 
way, each stimulates the other to greater activity in 
noble Christian endeavor. Sometimes a slight 
friction may arise, to mar the harmony of God's 
host; but it is not more discernible in the work- 
ings of the two Methodist Churches in the valley 
than in other denominations in their religious inter- 
course with eacli other. 



TWO NEW CHURCHES. 

The history of the Sandy Valley would be 
incomplete did we not briefly mention the two 
churches named below, though we have no definite 
data to enable us to particularize. But the main 
facts are given. 



430 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

UNITED BAPTISTS. 

Some years ago, the date not remembered, those 
ministers belonging to the old regular Baptists, 
sometimes called Hard Shells, who did not indorse 
what was known as the "Hard Doctrine ^^ of that 
Church, organized the United Baptist Church, and 
nearly all the Baptists in the Big Sandy Valley 
belong to that Church. 

FREE-WILL BAPTISTS. 

The Free-will Baptists organized a Church in 
Johnson, the second of the denomination in the 
State. Rev. Thomas Williams became their pastor, 
and several of the most influential people of the 
vicinity of Paintsville joined the Church, among 
them Daniel Wheeler, Wiley Williams, John Rich- 
mond, and other noted people. 



SANDY VALLEY PROGRESS. 

The early school-teachers in the Sandy Valley, 
as a class, had but little education, and, what was 
still more to their discredit, they drank whisky, 
sometimes taking their bottles with them to school, 
getting drunk in the morning, and remaining in 
that condition all day. A teacher who could read, 
write, and cipher to the single rule of three in 
Pike's Arithmetic, was thought qualified to teach a 
school. Now how changed! Not only does the 
State law require a teacher to prove a good moral 



SANDY VALLEY PROGRESS. 431 

character, but the people at large refuse to employ 
one who drinks liquor. Not only do they require 
the teacher to possess a good character and be of 
temperate habits, but he must have education as 
well. Prior to 1861 no private schools, or but few, 
of high grade were to be found in the Sandy Val- 
ley. Now no part of Kentucky has private schools 
and seminaries of learning surpassing those in the 
Sandy Valley in all the essentials going to make 
up first-class institutions of learning. 

The Normal at Catlettsburg is fully equal to 
the high- schools of the largest cities in the State, 
both in its curriculum and its beautiful grounds and 
buildings. Louisa, Eden, Flat Gap, Paintsville, 
Prestonburg, Pikeville, Medina, Blaineville, and 
some other places, have good high-schools, where a 
good classical or scientific education can be obtained 
by both sexes at a reasonable expense. 

All over the valley good common schools may 
be found, supplementing the five months' free 
schools, or public schools kept in motion by State 
taxation. And all of these schools are well pat- 
ronized. 

Previous to 1861 but few Sandy Valley young 
men were sent to college. Now many are receiving 
collegiate training in the best colleges and univer- 
sities in the country. A few wealthy men in the 
valley had their daughters educated away from 
home in young ladies' seminaries; but even this 
was rare, and almost created a sensation. But n.ow 



432 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

how changed! As many as four or five young 
ladies of Louisa alone are now studying, or have 
graduated, from the Wesley an Female College at 
Cincinnati, one of the best and most expensive 
ladies^ colleges in all the land. Quite a number of 
other young ladies of Louisa have been, or are 
now, attending female schools or colleges at other 
places. This state of affairs exists from Catletts- 
burg to Pikeville, and extends from Pond, on the 
Tug River, to Salyersville, in Magoffin County. 

THE EARLY PREACHERS 

Were not whisky-drinkers, like many of the first 
teachers, yet no doubt some of the men of the cloth 
in the early days of Sandy Valley have taken their 
cups, as that was not an unusual thing, even in 
staid New England. The morals of the good, old- 
time preachers were commendable, and those serv- 
ants of God who labored hard to win souls to 
Christ, and received but little or nothing for their 
toil and anxiety, are worthy the gratitude of the 
present generation. All honor to the early fathers ! 
They did well, according to their knowledge, and 
many of them knew more than some people now 
are .willing to concede. 

More opportunities to obtain a good training for 
the ministry are offered to the present generation 
of young men in the ministry than the old-time 
preachers were blessed with. And the facts prove, 
when stated, that the Sandy Valley ministers of the 



SANDY VALLEY PBOGRESS. 433 

present have advanced beyond their fathers by ap- 
plying themselves to a higher course of reading 
and study. It would be offensive to name the old- 
time preachers, and then compare the younger men, 
or rather the men of to-day, with them, and strike 
a contrast made up by the difference of the lack of 
education of the old preachers, who have passed to 
their reward, and their successors, who are still on 
the walls of Zion. But it is essential to historic 
facts to name, at least, some of the natives of the 
Sandy Valley who are now filling pulpits or are 
engaged in other ministerial work at home and 
abroad, thus enabling all to judge whether progress 
is being made in the superior culture and ability of 
the present preachers beyond those who preceded. 

Rev. James Harvey Burns, nephew of Jerry 
Burns, the founder of the house of Burns in the 
valley, and son of Lewis Burns, born and reared 
on Sandy, is an able minister of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, in the Western Virginia 
Conference of his Church. 

Rev. J. H. Hager, son of Harmon Hager, will 
compare with the ministers anywhere in logic, 
choice, strong language, and general ability. He is 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

Rev. Z. Meek, D. D., who has represented his 
Church in the General Conference, is not only an 
able minister, but for twenty years has proven 
' himself one of the ablest editors of his Church, the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. His paper, 

37 



434 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

the Central Methodist, at Catlettsburg, is recognized 
as one of the ablest in the connection. 

Rev. Charles J. Howes, whose father and grand- 
father were both preachers, is an able preacher, 
standing among the leaders of the Kentucky Con- 
ference, Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Howes 
not only represented his Church in a General Con- 
ference, but was made one of the secretaries of that 
august body. 

Mr. Howes's younger brother, Kev. G. Winn 
Howes, although prepared for and having practiced 
law for a few years, is now, though young in the 
ministry, an able expounder of the Word in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Rev. John W. Hampton, though not leaving 
the practice of the law until over forty, is regarded 
as a strong preacher in his Church, the Methodist 
Episcopal, South. 

Rev. William Jayne, the founder and conductor 
of Flat Gap Enterprise Academy, received a col- 
lege training, as others named did, and is an able 
minister of the Missionary Baptist Church. 

Rev. Coleman, of the Pike family of Coleman, 
is now an able preacher of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in Iowa. 

All these named were and are native Big 
Sandians. 

Rev. T. F. Garrett, a native of Prestonburg, is 
an able and leading minister in the Kentucky 
Methodist Episcopal Conference. 



THE LAWYERS. 435 



THE LAWYERS. 



McCoNNELL, the elder Rice, Robert Walker, 
Henry C. Harris, R. T. Burns the first. Green Go- 
ble, Hon. John P. Martin, Hon. John M. Elliott, 
Hon. Harvey Burns, and others of their generation, 
were good lawyers, and most of them eloquent, 
some having a national reputation. In the days 
of those whom we have named education was not 
diffused among the masses as now. The people at 
large received their political information from law- 
yers, who were generally good stump-speakers. 
But few books and no papers were read by the 
common people ; hence a man who is deemed of 
fair ability to-day would have appeared great in- 
deed in the early days of Sandy history. Now 
nearly every one reads books and papers, and forms 
his opinions without consulting those who would 
have been guides forty years ago. The people, being 
better informed, have lifted themselves on a level 
with those who stood far above them in bygone 
days, owing to the fact that the public men of that 
day possessed educational advantages above the 
masses. 

The science of law, like every other science, has 
advanced both in its pleadings and in its practice. 
Much of the old-day glamour has been dissipated. 
The lawyer of the olden time was expected to make 
an eloquent speech to a jury, though the speech 
might be mostly sound. If he did not, he fell in 



436 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

the estimation of the hangers-on at courts, who 
went there to hear grandiloquent speeches deliv- 
ered to judges and juries by some visiting attorney. 
Most of the verdicts of juries were influenced, too, 
at that time, by the eloquence of the lawyer. But 
now more depends on the instructions of the court, 
predicated on the law as expounded by the attor- 
ney. The bar of the Sandy Valley is much abler 
to-day than ever before. A court of common pleas 
may dispose of trials on its docket for a whole 
month, with scarcely three speeches. The law and 
evidence is closely applied, and the case is submit- 
ted with a mere statement by the attorney to an 
intelligent jury, the judge supervising the action of 
both attorneys and juries. 

Many old-time Sandians complain that the 
courts have fallen into decay ! They fail to see 
that, instead of having fallen into decay, the forms 
of justice have progressed with the times. 

Formerly a circuit court resembled a conven- 
tion, over which a solemn man, called ^Hhe judge," 
presided, supported by a number of bright men 
called lawyers, bringing into the court-house each 
a green satchel filled with books, which almost 
struck terror to many of the lookers-on. Now a 
a circuit court resembles a body of learned men, 
sitting in solemn conclave, examining and deter- 
mining the truth as the object of research^ and ap- 
plying that truth to the protection of the innocent 
and the punishment of the guilty, for the general 



THE OFFICE-BEARERS. 437 

welfare of society at large. Sandy courts, as well 
as Sandy lawyers, have certainly advanced in the 
progress of time. 

THE DOCTORS 

Of the early period of Sandy deserve great praise 
for the good they accomplished in behalf of suffer- 
ing humanity. It is, however, no disparagement to 
them to say that the poverty incident to a new 
country forbade them to expect fees sufficient to 
buy suitable medical books or prepared medicines. 
Hence the most of them were " root and herb '^ 
doctors. They had never read a book on botany, 
but being born and reared in the woods, were 
practical botanists, and, familiar with nature, they 
knew the medicinal virtue of every plant and root 
found growing in the Sandy Valley. Sometimes 
the earlier doctor of Sandy history would gather 
his medicine while on the way to visit his patient, 
and prepare it after he had arrived at the house of 
sickness. All is changed now. Doctors with 
diplomas from colleges of medicine are found prac- 
ticing in every part of the valley. Nearly all are 
native Sandians. 

THE OFFICE-BEARERS 

Of the Sandy Valley will compare in ability with 
those of other parts of the State or the United 
States. Hons. Mr. May, John. P. Martin, and 
John M. Elliott (the first and last Sandy born), were 



438 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

able members of Congress, and each had a national 
reputation. They lived in Prestonburg. Hon. 
Laban T. Moore and Hon. John M. Rice sustained 
the reputation of their predecessors for ability. 
These gentlemen were also Sandians, born and 
bred. 

THE SANDY JUDICIARY 

Has been, and still is, an able one. Judges James 
M. Rice, William Harvey Burns, M. J. Ferguson, 
James E. Stewart, George N. Brown, John M. 
Rice, and John M. Burns will compare, in legal 
knowledge and ability to expound the law, and in 
clean-cut records, with the judges in other parts of 
the State ; and all are native Big Sandians. 

THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS 

Of the Sandy Valley courts, like the judges, in- 
cluding A. J. Auxier, James E. Stewart, and S. G. 
Kinner, all native Sandians, in the able discharge 
of official duty, are not surpassed by prosecuting 
attorneys in other sections of the State. 

THE SANDIANS 

Who have filled State offices have not only been 
fully up to the standard of ability displayed by 
their predecessors filling the same positions, but 
many think the Big Sandians have surpassed' them 
in official work. Thomas D. Marcum had not long 
been acting as register of the land-office when it 
was said, by all who knew the duties of the posi- 



GOVERNMENT OFFICERS. 439 

tion, that he was not only equal to the task, but be- 
fore his official term expired it was proven by his 
work that the office of register was never filled by 
a more competent man. 

The lamented John George Cecil, son of Samuel 
Cecil, of Pike, gave great promise of distinguished 
work in the same office ; but disease and death over- 
took him before he had been in the office a year. 
The short time he served, however, gave assurance 
that, had he lived, he would have been equal to any 
preceding him in upholding the Sandy official banner. 

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OFFICES 

Have been held by Sandy men, who have shown 
as much talent and ability in discharge of their 
official duties as the occupants filling similar places 
from any other part of the State or United States. 

A. J. Auxier, as the United States marshal, left 
a record for integrity and ability in managing the 
intricate affairs of the marshalship second to none 
who has ever filled the same position. 

Captain A. E. Adams, of Pike, was commissioned 
to go as consulate to a distant country, but failed 
to go. Judging from the past official life of Mr. 
Adams, neither Sandy's reputation nor the govern- 
ment would have lost any thing, but would have 
gained much had he gone on his mission. 

John W. Langley, of Prestonburg, received 
many promotions in a Government department at 
Washington for intelligent and faithful service. 



440 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Other Sandians have received commendation for 
competency and faithfulness in national official duty. 
In the highest official positions of the district, 
State, or nation, to the lowest, Big Sandians have 
been fully equal to the tasks assigned them. These 
positions they have filled with an ability which can 
not be denied them. Comparing their official 
labors with others in similar places elsewhere, they 
stand with the best. 



HARD TO GET OLD-TIME INCIDENTS. 

Many families who settled early in the Sandy 
Valley, and assisted in making an honorable his- 
tory, left no record or annals which the historian 
can gather up and prepare for printing. A great 
many families whose names are familiar to the peo- 
ple of the valley, and most of whom have descend- 
ants still living there, come under this difficulty. 
On inquiring of one whom the author thought well 
informed in the matter, for an early history of the 
Stratton family, the person applied to said that one 
thing was true about them — for every body said so 
who remembered the ancestors of the Stratton 
house on Sandy (head-quarters at Prestonburg) — 
and that was that they were the most intensely 
religious people that ever lived in the valley. They 
were Methodists. 

The Colemans, of Pike, were an old-time family, 
with a good historic record, if it could be had. So 



OLD-TIME INCIDENTS. 441 

is the Belcher family, and the Hoffman family, of 
which Archibald Hoffman, the store-keeper of that 
name at Pike, is a member. 

The Goble family, of Floyd, is an old-time 
house, and quite prominent. Lawyer Goble, of 
Prestonburg, is a son of William Goble, who was 
a son of Isaac Goble, one of the early settlers of 
the county. Dr. Isaac Goble, of the mouth of 
John's Creek, is a cousin of lawyer Goble. The 
doctor was a soldier in the 39th Kentucky Volun- 
teer Infantry during the war, and served in the 
hospital department. He is farmer, doctor, and 
merchant. 

The Conleys came early into the valley, and 
have become a numerous host. Many of the Con- 
leys have risen to places of rank and official honor. 
Lawyer Wince Conley, of Pike, but a native of 
Johnson, is a leading man. His brother, who was 
at one time county judge of Johnson immediately 
after the close of the war, almost created a sensa- 
tion at the time by his zeal in making good roads 
in his county. A doctor of ability was a brother 
of the lawyer and judge, and the same house fur- 
nished a good magistrate to Johnson County. 
Another branch of the family live at Flat Gap, one 
of whom is a lawyer there. 

The Pickelsimers are a large family of the 
Sandy Valley. The father of Dr. Pickelsimer, 
the druggist, and a prominent physician at Paints- 
ville, died at a great age since the writing of this 



442 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

book was undertaken. His farm is not far from 
Flat Gap. The old gentleman was a man of high 
honor and great respectability. 

The Robinsons are found scattered all over the 
Sandy Valley. Many came in an early day, and 
were foremost in opening the forests for the culti- 
vation of food for man. The gentleman who is 
now chief magistrate at Piketon bears that name. 
He came but recently from Virginia. 

Samuel Keel, on Shelby, has added wealth to 
the valley, as well as being a promoter of morality. 

The Hurts, the Honakers, the Sicks, the Rey- 
noldses, the Greers in Floyd, must not be neglected ; 
but especially should the name of Rev. Joseph 
Langley, of Middle Creek, be mentioned, to show 
that a young man born in poverty may, in this 
country, by industry and economy, with moral in- 
tegrity to guide him, though not permitted to stand 
before kings, come to the front, at least, as a man of 
wealth and influence, leading his family in paths of 
usefulness and honor. 

The Vaughans, of Prestonburg; the Smiths, of 
the same place; the old Widow Ford, who was, 
before marriage, a Mayo, were noted for their re- 
ligious zeal in early days. The only member of 
the first Fords living at this writing is Thomas 
who still sticks to the early capital of the Sandy 
Valley, his children having married into prominent 
families round about. 

George Peck, of Lawrence, is a very old-time 



OLD TIME INCIDENTS. 443 

Sandian, related to the McClures. He owns a 
large boundary of land commencing on the Sandy 
River at the mouth of Griffith's Creek, and run- 
ning back. Peck's Chapel, on the line of the 
Chatterawha Railroad, is named for him. The 
Pecks, like the McClures, are staunch Methodists, in 
communion with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The Shannons are of an old-time family of the 
Lower Valley, and are connected by marriage and 
consanguinity with many strong houses of the county. 

While Walter Osburn, of Lawrence, has been 
referred to already, it is not out of place to state 
that he still lives on Blaine, at a very advanced 
age. After he was eighty years old he would walk 
from his home (twenty odd miles) to Louisa on 
business. He has filled many official stations. 

German Huff, of Paintsville, has also been an 
educator, if not a benefactor, by his example in the 
practice of economy. By following the laws of 
trade from the time he made salt on Middle Creek 
to the present, he has never wasted any thing worth 
saving, whereby he has lived well and at the same 
time accumulated a competency. It was said by 
one who knew of his current savings, that he could 
take twenty dollars, have a basket of provisions 
prepared, the product of his garden and farm, take 
a canoe and push it to Portsmouth, Ohio, and back 
home to Paintsville, and, in the sale of goods 
bought with the twenty dollars, make a snug profit. 

The Parsleys, on Lower Tug, are descendants of 



444 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

an old family. Jesse has not only been a large 
land-holder from young manhood, and he is now 
growing old, but a large store-keeper and timber- 
dealer. His brother Moses lives on Emily Creek, but 
has retired from saw-logging and gone to farming. 

Captain Kirk, one of the members of that 
numerous family in the Lower Tug country, served 
in the Union army during the Civil War. His 
son James is a lawyer, but was for many years 
clerk of the county court of Martin. The office is 
now held, however, by George W. Hale, son-in-law 
of Moses Parsley. 

Mark Dempsey was a very prominent citizen 
before the war, and in good circumstances. One of 
his sons, Lewis, is a merchant at Eden. 

The Maynards, an old-time family in the valley, 
are settled from the Cumberland to the mouth of 
Tug. Many of them are prominent people. John 
B. Maynard, of John^s Creek, is a large timber- 
dealer. Dr. Maynard, also of the John's Creek 
country, is a well-to-do farmer and physician. He 
married a daughter of the Widow Jones, of Louisa. 
A large family of the Maynards live on the Rock 
Castle at its mouth and near by. Some of them 
have filled official stations. 

The Cline family have their seat high up Tug, 
although one of them lives in Martin, who has been 
county judge, and had many good roads built in 
his county. Perry Cline has for many years lived 
in Pikeville. He has been sheriff and school com- 



OLD TIME INCIDENTS. 445 

missioner of his county, and represented his district 
in the Legislature. 

The Bentleys, the Dotsons, and many others in 
the eastern part of Pike County, not named, have 
helped make up the history of that rugged section. 

In going back to the Levisa, one is almost sure 
to find a Justice at every turn in the road, yet they 
have not all staid near by their ancestral home ; for 
Timothy Justice lives down on Rock Castle, and 
Fleming Justice makes brick in Hampton City. 

Of old-time physicians, we may here mention 
Dr. H. S. Sweatnum, who has practiced his pro- 
fession since the forties ; first at West Liberty, next 
at Paintsville, and now at Louisa. Dr. A. E. Gray, 
of Pike, has for twenty years been practicing at 
Pike, and Dr. Callihan has practiced at Preston- 
burg about the same length of time. 

Many of the children of the old-time people of 
Prestonburg have come to honor. Among the 
number. Dr. SteePs son, John, is now not only a 
good physician and a large land-owner, but is a 
man of standing in Carter County. One of his 
brothers, Samuel, still lives at Prestonburg, a fix- 
ture of the town. 

The Ferrells live along the Tug in different 
sections. Richard Ferrell, the wealthy capitalist, 
came to Pike after the war, from Virginia, and has 
grown rich and influential. 

The Yorks are a Sandy people, dating back but 
one generation, however, having their seat on Grif- 



446 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

fith's Creek and Donathon. Dr. Joshua was killed 
near the close of the Civil War by some one who 
had taken him away as a prisoner for loyalty, as 
his friends say, to the flag of his country. 

The Carters, of Lawrence, are a noted family. 
They came from South-western Virginia, They 
were of a wealthy family. G. W. Carter has rep- 
resented his district in the Legislature. His first 
wife was a daughter of Rev. George Hutchison, 
and sister of Rev. I. B. Hutchison, who is a 
brother-in-law of James A. Abbott, the prominent 
timber merchant of Louisa. 

The Burtons, of Lawrence, are of the old-time 
stock. Samuel Burton is now judge of Lawrence. 

The Sparkses, of Lawrence, are of the old-time 
people, and are held in high repute, as are the 
Ramys, Gambrells, Rices, and many others of the 
same section. 



HUGH BOGGS, OF BLAINE, 

The Nestor of the Boggses on Cane's Creek, a 
branch of the Blaine, has been a man of remarka- 
ble energy. Hugh Boggs opened a large farm on 
his creek, and, by chopping wood and bossing other 
wood-choppers at the old-time furnaces, made money 
enough to build a steam saw and grain mill and a 
carding machine at quite an early day. Had Hugh 
Boggs lived at a place more get-at-able, he would 
have been to Cane's Creek what Judge Borders was 



OFFICERS OF THE ARMY. 



447 



to his section, and what William Adams was to 
Licking Station. 

The country around Mr. Boggs was too sparsely 
settled to expand his business, yet nevertheless he 
was always a good liver. Cane's Creek, in Law- 
rence County, is a stream of wide and rich bottom 
land, almost all of which is owned by the Boggses, 
descendants of either Hugh Boggs or his kinsmen. 
He nears the end of his earthly race, being quite 
feeble in body but smart in mind. He has been a 
benefactor, an educator, and a philanthropist, al- 
though in his unselfishness he might himself never 
have suspected it. 

OFFICERS OF THE ARMY. 

Sandy Valley Men who were Commissioned Officers in 
THE Union Army during the Civil War. 





COLONELS. 




Laban T. Moore, . . 


. 14th Kentucky, 


. Lawrence Co. 


G. W. Gallup, . . 


. . 14th 


ii 


John Dils, Jr., . . 


. 39th 


. Pike Co. 


D. A. Mims, . . . 


. 39th 


. Boyd Co. 


J. L. Zeigler, . . . 


. . 5th Virginia, . 


i( 


A. A. Tomlinson, . 


. . 5th 


a 



LIEUTENANT-COLONELS. 



Joseph Brown, .... 14th Kentucky, . Boyd Co. 
R. M. Thomas, .... 14th " . " 

Dr. S. M. Ferguson, . . 39th " . Pike Co. 



Bentley Burk, 
D. J. Burchett, 



MAJORS. 

14th Kentucky, . Boyd Co. 
14th " . Lawrence Co. 



448 



THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 



MAJORS— Continued. 

Ralph Ormsted, .... 5th Virginia, . . Boyd Co. 
John B. Auxier, . . . 39th Kentucky, . Johnson Co. 
Frank Mott, ..... 45th " . Boyd Co. 

John Henderson, . . . 45th " . " 



Archie Means, . . . 
Dwight Leffingwell, 
James Whitten, 
D. W. Steel, . 
Sol. Davis, . • 
R. B. McCall, . 
T. J. Ewing, . 
A. C. Hailey, . 
T. D. Marcum, 
Wm. Bartram, 
Oliver Botner, 
— . McKinster, 
Watt Wood, . 
George Green, 
Allen P. Hawes, 
Thomas Russell, 
Harry Ford, . . 
William Ford, . 
Joe Kirk, . . . 
Wiley Patrick, . 



CAPTAINS. 

• 14th Kentucky, 

. 14th 

. 14th 

. 22d 

. 14th 

. 5th Virginia, . 

. 5th 

. 39th Kentucky, 

. 14th 

.14th 

. 14th 

. 14th 

. 14th 

. 14th 

. 39th 

. 45th 

. 39th 

. 39th 

. 39th 

. 14th 

LIEUTENANTS. 



Boyd Co. 



George B. Patton, 
D. H. McGee, . . 

— . Sperry, 14th 

George R. Chapman, . 14th 
Henry Borders, .... 14th 

— . Preston, 39th 

— . Burgess, 14tli 

Martin Thornsberry, . 39th 



. 14th Kentucky, 
. 14th 



Cassville, Va. 
Lawrence Co. 



AVayne Co., W. Va. 
Magoflan Co. 



Boyd Co. 



Lawrence Co. 



Pike Co. 



LIEUTENANTS-Continued. 


. . . 14th 


Kentucky, 


. Boyd Co. 


. . . 14th 


(( 


(< 


. . . 45th 


<( 


<< 


. . . 39th 


<( 


. Floyd Co. 


. . . 39th 


(( 


. Boyd Co. 


. . . 39th 


a 


. Lawrence Co. 



OFFICERS OF THE ARMY. 449 

James Foster, . 
James C. Ely, . 
James Seaton, . 
Linds y Layne, . 
L. J. Hampton, . 
J. Frew Stewart, 

No distinction is made between first and second 
lieutenants. 

Col. G. W. Gallup came out of the army with 
the rank of brigadier-general by brevet. 

James C. Ely was not made a lieutenant until 
after he became a veteran. 

Captain T. D. Marcum was frequently a staff 
officer before he became a captain. 

Lieutenant George B. Patton acted as adjutant, 
and was often on the staff of the general in com- 
mand. 

Major John Henderson was much of the time 
detailed as a mustering officer. 

Lieutenant James Foster was quartermaster of 
the 14th Kentucky. 

Lieutenant Layne was the quartermaster in the 
39th Kentucky. 

Lieutenant James Seaton was adjutant of his 
regiment. 

Lieutenant L. J. Hampton was adjutant of the 
39th Kentucky until killed in a skirmish at Weir- 
man's Shoals. 

J. Frew Stewart was adjutant in the 39th Ken- 
tucky after the death of Lieutenant Hampton. 

38 



450 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

JENNY WILEY. 

The most romantic history, in the early settle- 
ment of the Big Sandy Valley, is that of Jenny 
Wiley. This history we proceed to give from the 
most reliable sources at our command, drawing our 
facts mainly from Hardesty^s '' Historical and Bio- 
graphical Encyclopedia/' 

There is hardly a man or woman in Eastern 
Kentucky who is not familiar with the story of the 
life of this remarkable woman. The facts of her 
capture by the Indians, escape from them, and re- 
turn to her home, have been handed down from 
parent to child, and they are well remembered. 
Her maiden name was Jenny Sellards. She mar- 
ried Thomas Wiley, a native of Ireland, who had 
emigrated and settled on Walker's Creek, in Wythe, 
now Tazewell County, Va., where they were living 
at the time of the capture by the Indians. She 
had a sister living near by, the wife of John Bor- 
ders, who was the father of the Rev. John Borders, 
a noted Baptist preacher, Hezekiah Borders, Mi- 
chael Borders, Judge Archibald Borders, and several 
daughters. Several families named Harmon lived 
in the same neighborhood, some of whom were 
noted Indian scouts. 

At the time of the capture of Jenny, Thomas 
Wiley, her husband, was out in the woods digging 
ginseng. This was in the year 1790. The destruc- 
tion of the Wiley family, as hereafter recorded, was 



JENNY WILEY. 451 

the result of a mistake on the part of the savages. 
Some time previously, in an engagement with a 
party of Cherokees, one of the Harmons had shot 
and killed two or three of their number, and a 
party of five returned to seek vengeance on the 
Harmons, but ignorant of the location of their 
cabin, fell upon Wiley's instead. 

John Borders warned Mrs. Wiley that he feared 
Indians were in the neighborhood, and urged her 
to go to his house and remain until Wiley's return, 
but as she had a piece of cloth in the loom, she 
said she would finish it and then go. The delay 
on the part of Mrs. Wiley was a fatal one. Dark- 
ness came on, and with it came the attack upon 
the defenseless family. The Indians rushed into 
the house, and after tomahawking and scalping a 
younger brother and three of the children, and 
taking Mrs. Wiley, her infant (a year and a half 
old), and Mr. Wiley's hunting dog, started towards 
the Ohio River. At the time the Indian trail led 
down what is now known as Jennie's Creek, and 
along it they proceeded until they reached the 
mouth of that stream, then down Tug and Big 
Sandy Rivers to the Ohio. 

No sooner had the news of the horrid butchery 
spread among the inhabitants of the Walker's Creek 
settlement than a party, among whom were Lazarus 
Damron and Matthias Harmon, started in pursuit. 
They followed on for several days, but failing to 
come up with the perpetrators of the terrible out- 



452 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

rage, the pursuit was abandoned, and all returned 
to their homes. The Indians expected that they 
would be followed, and the infant of Mrs. Wiley 
proving an incumbrance to their flight, they dashed 
out its brains against a beech-tree when a short 
distance below where Mr. William C. Crum now 
resides, and two miles from Jennie's Creek. This 
tree was standing and well known to the inhabit- 
ants of this section during the first quarter of the 
present century. 

When the savages, with their captive, reached 
the Ohio, it was very much swollen ; with a shout 
of 0-high-o, they turned down that stream, and 
continued their journey to the mouth of the Little 
Sandy. Up that stream they went to the mouth of 
Dry Fork, and up the same to its head, when they 
crossed the dividing ridge and proceeded down 
what is now called Cherokee Fork of Big Blaine 
Creek, to a point within two miles of its mouth, 
where they halted and took shelter between a ledge 
of rocks. Here they remained for several months, 
and during the time Mrs. Wiley was delivered of a 
child. At this time the Indians were very kind to 
her; but when the child was three weeks old they 
decided to test him, to see whether he would make 
a brave warrior. Having tied him to a flat piece 
of wood, they slipped him into the water to see if 
he would cry. He screamed furiously, and they 
took him by the heels and dashed his brains out 
against an oak-tree. 



JENNY WILEY. 453 

When they left this encampment they proceeded 
down to the mouth of Cherokee Creek, then up 
Big Blaine to the mouth of Hood's Fork, thence 
up that stream to its source ; from here they crossed 
over the dividing ridge to the waters of Mud Lick, 
and down the same to its mouth, where they once 
more formed an encampment. 

About this time several settlements were made 
on the head-waters of the Big Sandy, and the In- 
dians decided to kill their captive, and accordingly 
prepared for the execution; but just when the awful 
hour was come, an old Cherokee chief, who in the 
meantime had joined the party, proposed to buy her 
from the others on condition that she would teach 
his squaws to make cloth like the gown she wore. 
Thus was her life saved, but she was reduced to 
the most abject slavery, and was made to carry 
water, wood, and build fires. For some time they 
bound her when they were out hunting; but as time 
wore away they relaxed their vigilance, and at last 
permitted her to remain unbound. 

On one occasion, when all were out from camp, 
they were belated, and at night-fall did not return, 
and Mrs. Wiley now resolved to carry into effect a ^ 
long-cherished object, that of making her escape 
and returning to her friends. The rain was falling 
fast, and the night was intensely dark, but she 
glided away from the camp-fire and set out on her 
lonely and perilous journey. Her dog, the same 
that had followed the party through all their wan- 



454 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

derings, started to follow her, but she drove him 
back, lest by his barking he might betray her into 
the hands of her pursuers. She followed the 
course of Mud Lick Creek to its mouth, and 
then crossing Main Paint Creek, journeyed up a 
stream (ever since known as Jennie's Creek) a 
distance of some miles, thence over a ridge and 
down a stream, now called Little Paint Creek, 
which empties into the Levisa Fork of Big Sandy 
River. When she reached its mouth it was day- 
dawn, and on the opposite side of the river, a short 
distance below the mouth of John's Creek, she 
could hear and see men at work erecting a block- 
house. To them she called, and informed them 
that she was a captive escaping from the Indians, 
and urged them to hasten to her rescue, as she be- 
lieved her pursuers to be close upon her. The 
men had no boat, but hastily rolling some logs into 
the river and lashing them together with grape- 
vines, they pushed over the stream and carried her 
back with them. As they were ascending the bank, 
the old chief who had claimed Jenny as his prop- 
erty, preceded by the dog, appeared upon the oppo- 
site bank, and striking his hands upon his breast, 
exclaimed in broken English, ^^ Honor, Jenny, 
honor V^ and then disappeared into the forest. 

That was the last she ever saw of the old chief 
or her dog. She remained here a day or two to 
rest from her fatigue, and then with a guide made 
her way back to her home, having been in captivity 



JENNY WILEY. 455 

more than eleven months. Here she rejoined her 
husband, who had long supposed her dead, and 
together, nine years after — in the year 1800 — they 
abandoned their home in the Old Dominion, and 
found another near the mouth of Tom^s Creek, on 
the banks of the Levisa Fork of Big Sandy. Here 
her husband died in the year 1810. She survived 
him twenty-one years, and died of paralysis in the 
year 1831. 

The Indians had killed her brother and five of 
her children, but after her return from captivity 
five others were born, namely : Hezekiah, Jane, 
Sally, Adam, and William. 

Hezekiah married Miss Christine Nelson, of 
George's Creek, Kentucky, and settled on Twelve 
Pole Creek, where he lived for many years; he 
died in 1832, while on a visit to friends in Ken- 
tucky. Jane married Richard Williamson, who 
also settled on Twelve Pole. Sally first married 
Christian Yost, of Kentucky, and after his death 
was united in marriage with Samuel Murray. She 
died March 10, 1871. William raised a large fam- 
ily, and after the sale of the Wiley farm moved to 
Tom's Creek, about two miles from the mouth, 
where he lived until his death. 

Of the children of Jenny Wiley, Adam P. was 
the most noted. In physique he was scarcely ex- 
celled by any man in the Sandy Valley. Tall, 
straight as an arrow, brown of skin, slow of 
movement and speech, he was an attractive figure 



456 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

to look upon. He was known far and wide as 
"Vard^' Witey, sometimes called "Adam Pre 
Vard.^' Why thus designated the writer is unable to 
say. In his early life " Yard '^ was a great fiddler, 
and carried his violin far and near, to make music 
for the young people to dance by. But uniting 
himself with the Baptist Church, he for a time 
gave up the fiddle and went to preaching. His 
sermons were, like himself, very long, and he was 
very zealous and earnest. After some years in the 
ministry — the number we do not remember — he 
gave up his calling, and was often seen making his 
old violin ring out charming music for the young 
people at the log-rolling, house-raising, or corn- 
husking. He lived to a ripe old age, and died only 
a, few years ago, at his home in Johnson County. 
Before his death he visited the writer, for the pur- 
pose of having us write out the life of his mother, 
as he would detail it from memory, but our business 
engagements were such that it was impossible to 
comply with his request. 

The Wiley family, descendants of Jenny, are 
quite numerous in Johnson ; they are a hard-work- 
ing set of men, and retain in their memory the 
heroic life of Jenny Wiley as a heritage of priceless 
value. 

The farm upon which Mr. Wiley settled, just 
below the mouth of Tom^s Creek, was known to 
all the old people, far and near, as the "Wiley 
Farm.'^ About forty years ago it was sold to 



JENNY WILEY. 457 

James Nibert, who lived upon it until some ten 
years ago, when he sold it to Samuel Spears, who 
is the present owner and occupant. 

As the writer was born and reared almost in 
sight of the " Wiley Farm/^ he is perfectly familiar 
with all the leading facts in the life of Jenny 
Wiley, during her stay with th^ Indians, and after 
her escape. 

While they were camping on Mud Lick, some 
six miles above where Paintsville now stands, she 
said they frequently run short of lead, and when 
they wanted to replenish their stock they had no 
trouble to do so, and in a very short time. They 
would go out in the forenoon, and after three or 
four hours' absence return loaded with something 
which looked like stones. Then they would build 
a large fire out of logs, on sideling ground, throw 
the ore on, and it would melt and run off into 
trenches prepared for it ; afterward, as needed, it 
was molded into bullets. But, notwithstanding the 
ease with which the Indians procured their lead, 
the whites have never been able to find the mines 
from which it was taken. Years have been spent 
in its search, and long pilgrimages have been made, 
by those claiming to be able to point out the place, 
but thus far to no purpose. 

Were we to repeat all the legends that have 

been handed down from the days of Jenny Wiley, 

they would seem too incredible for belief in this 

age, when romance and hardships are not so 

39 



458 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

intimately associated as they were then. So, in the 
preparation of this chapter we have confined our- 
selves to facts, leaving out the fanciful, which the 
imagination of the reader can supply. 

That there are vast lead-mines in the valley of 
Paint Creek, perhaps on Mud Lick, there is little 
room to doubt. That they have never been found, 
in view of the universal belief of their existence, is 
likely due to the fact that the people in that section 
do not know lead ore when they see it. The story 
of Jenny Wiley was abundantly confirmed by In- 
dians, friendly to the whites, in later days, but 
they would give no intimation as to the location. 
We are very sorry we can not tell our readers where 
to find these mines ! 



INDIAN GRAVE-YARDS. 

From many indications, still existing, it seems 
evident that the aborigines of this section of country 
had their great cemetery at and near the mouth of 
the Sandy River. It is likely that their dead were 
brought from great distances and buried there. 
Evidences of this are found in the fact that for 
miles the skeletons of human bodies are found on 
digging wells, cellars, and vaults, not only imme- 
diately at the Mouth of the Sandy, but for miles 
up and down that stream. Bones of human beings 
are found buried even on the top of the high bluffs 
back of Catlettsburg, as though all the bottom land 



THE WELLS FAMILY. - 459 

had been taken up. It is hard to find a place on 
the Ohio River where more of the remains of the 
Indian, or prehistoric race of man, have been and 
are still being found than at the Mouth of the Sandy 
River. Mr. Frank Fairbairn, a very intelligent 
gentleman, living as a recluse two miles back of 
Catlettsburg, who is well informed in antiquarian 
lore, has collected vast quantities of these relics, by 
which many a private museum of the country has 
been enriched, as well as adding to Mr. Fairbairn's 
exchequer, 

THE WELLS FAMILY, 

Of Johnson and Floyd Counties, is an old house 
in the valley. Rev. William A. Wells was for 
many years a local preacher in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, an extensive farmer and 
land-owner, and an old-time physician, who did 
much to relieve the suffering of the people. He 
died only one year ago, leaving a large family of 
bright children. One son, Hon. John P. Wells, 
has been a member of the Kentucky Legislature, 
and is a prominent lawyer at Paintsville. Another 
son, Aaron, is a local preacher in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South ; while M. L. K. Wells is 
postmaster at Boone's Camp. William is a promi- 
nent farmer and merchant, and Moses is a promi- 
nent farmer and trader. 

George Wells is still living, though he is ninety- 
four years of age. His health is fair, and he is 



460 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

able to go from place to place with the steady step 
of one much his junior in years. He was a power- 
ful man in his day, a great hunter, and raised a 
large family of children. 

There is not in the valley a more honorable, 
upright, or generous family than the descendants of 
the old house of Wells. They are true men and 
women, honorable in every relation of life, and have 
impressed themselves upon the people for good. 

Rev. William Wells, also a preacher in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is quite a 
prominent man in the ministry, and is also a phy- 
sician. He is well known in the Upper Valley, 
and his talent is highly appreciated, both at home 
and abroad. 

THE BRUNINGS. 

Frank Bruning went to Catlettsburg when it 
was laid out as a town, taking his wife and several 
children with him. He was a German, from Prus- 
sia. He was at first a landscape and general gar- 
dener, and worked and prospered. When the war 
commenced in 1861, he had a large rectifying es- 
tablishment in Catlettsburg, which he gave up 
when the tax was placed upon spirits by the General 
Government. He became a dry-goods merchant, 
but finally retired to a suburban home, and died in 
about 1880. He and his wife, who is still living, 
were people of wonderful politeness and courtesy. 
In social life none could surpass them in extending 



ALECK BOTTS. 461 

the nice little courtesies which go to make up a 
sunshiny social atmosphere. 

His children grew to maturity, receiving a good 
education. The oldest son, who bears his father^s 
name, is a lawyer, and has served four years as 
prosecuting attorney of Boyd County. Another 
son is a steamboatman. The others are engaged in 
lucrative mercantile pursuits in Cincinnati and 
New York. Of the two daughters living, one is 
married and lives in Ohio ; the other remains at 
home to cheer her venerable mother in her declin- 
ing years. 

ALECK BOTTS 

Was a bright mulatto, who came to Catlettsburg 
amongst its first arrivals. He was born a slave, 
but was from birth nominally free, and was made 
legally so by his master afterwards. He was born 
at Olympia Springs, Bath County, Ky. He claimed 
to be a close relative of the celebrated John Minor 
Botts, of Virginia. He bought his wife, who is 
nearly white, although a slave at the time. When 
he settled at the Mouth, the now venerable M. L. 
Williams took a liking to him, and procured a 
horse and dray for the young and bright fellow, 
and waited till Botts could pay him out of his 
earnings. He soon paid his benefactor. Aleck 
never forgot the kindness of Mr. Williams, but 
took many opportunities to do him little acts of 
kindness in return for the confidence the generous 



462 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

man put in him when he was but a poor, free 
negro. 

Few people of Catlettsburg were better known 
to Upper Sandians than Aleck Botts in his day. 
From draying he went to barbering, and also ale- 
selling. He was a keen trader, and accumulated 
much property. In fact, at his death, which oc- 
curred about 1870, he was called wealthy. His 
desire to please every one made him popular with 
all. He was the first to attempt to introduce mod- 
ern fine horses into the Sandy Valley. He was 
not only a great lover of good horses, but a great 
trader in them. His zeal in this line brought him 
in contact with the large stock-raisers of the Blue 
Grass region of Kentucky, and some of the wealth- 
iest of them have dined at the house of Aleck 
Botts. His judgment was acceded to by all, not 
only as to the value and blood of horses, but also 
in financial ventures in geneml. He left a widow 
and a number of children. The children, like the 
father, all died of consumption, except three sons, 
and one of these is a wanderer from home. 

Aleck was a tyrant over his children. He was 
remonstrated with by some one for chaining his 
eldest boy to an iron block, and making him sit 
for hours on the public street, the jeer of every 
passer. He replied that white people did not 
know that it was harder to control negro boys than 
white ones. He provided well, however, for his 
household, and wished them to come to honor. He 



TWO SANDY COUSINS, 463 

was, like the Kentucky branch of the Botts family, 
a Democrat, though he had the policy to keep it 
well to himself, for fear it might lose him the good- 
will of those not of that political faith. 

When he died, many of the first people of Cat- 
lettsburg and vicinity regretted his death, and at- 
tended his funeral and wept over his grave. They 
felt that he had been useful in the town during 
life, and had done much to promote its prosperity. 



TWO SANDY COUSINS. 

Along in the thirties two brothers from Vir- 
ginia came into Pike County, Kentucky. The elder 
of the brothers, with his family, passed on to the 
Tygart Valley, in Greenup County. The younger 
married a young lady of a prominent family in the 
upper part of Pike County, and settled quietly 
down in life. The brother who went to Tygart 
died in middle life in 1852, at Portsmouth, Ohio, 
to which place he had moved in 1848. Seven chil- 
dren had been born to them in Kentucky, two 
sons and five daughters. The daughters had all 
died in Kentucky. The oldest son died soon after 
the father. The mother died in 1857. 

The surviving son received a good education, and 
then learned the trade of a brick-mason. In 1861 he 
was in Fayette County, Virginia, working at his 
trade. The Civil War breaking out, and the sen- 
timent of the community in w^hich he lived being 



464 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

almost a unit in favor of secession, the young me- 
chanic joined the ardent young men around him, 
and volunteered in the Confederate army. He re- 
mained in the service until the surrender of the 
great Southern chieftain to General Grant at Appo- 
mattox C. H., on the 9th of April, 1865, when he 
retraced his steps to the scenes of his early child- 
hood, broken down in worldly wealth. 

The brave young man thought it useless to 
lament over the result of the conflict, in which he 
had fought bravely, though on the losing side, 
and immediately began school-teaching and selling 
a useful and popular book, by which his finances 
were soon in 'good shape. He not only taught 
school and sold books, but snatched from honest 
mental labor and physical toil every scrap of time 
not thus employed, in reading medicine under the 
guidance of a tutor. When his bank account was 
sufficient to give assurance that he could dispense 
with the business he had taken up only as a step- 
ping-stone to the medical profession, to which he 
aspired from early youth, after reading the text- 
books necessary to fit him to enter a medical col- 
lege, he spent two full terms at one of the noted 
medical colleges of Cincinnati, graduating with 
honor. He then took a post-graduate course in 
clinics, and went to Hampton City, a suburb of 
Catlettsburg, and commenced the practice of medi- 
cine. After feeling his way carefully, he ventured 
down into the bustling little city, and had a suite 



TWO SANDY COUSINS. 465 

of rooms prepared in the Opera-house building as 
an office. The rooms were fitted up in superb 
style, almost as inviting as the home of a family of 
fairies; and shelves, book-cases, wardrobes, and 
closets were supplied with every thing necessary 
for the outfit of the physician and surgeon. 

The young bricklayer and Confederate soldier 
stands now among the leading physicians of his 
section, with good prospects ahead. He is a bach- 
elor, yet goes much into society. He is a working 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of 
which he is a steward, and has been Sunday-school 
superintendent. When asked by some one why he 
united with that Church, he said it had been his 
mother's Church, and how could he fail to honor 
her choice and memory ? 

He is high up in Masonry, being a Knight 
Templar, and is also at the top ladder of Odd 
Fellowship. In politics he is a strong Democrat, 
attending the conventions and caucuses of the 
party, and is early at the polls on election-day, to 
give his party a good start. 

A son was born to the brother who settled in 
Pike, and about the time the great Civil War was 
convulsing the country he moved with his family 
to Catlettsburg. After the war was over, and be- 
fore Marion Spurlock, John Meek, and James C. 
Ely had built the Favorite^ he was owner and 
master of the oddly shaped Sandy steamer called 
the Bed Buok. He did a thriving business with 



466 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

the ill-shapen craft for some time ; she was the 
only chance. But the kind-heartedness and readi- 
ness to please both passengers and shippers made 
them feel kindly towards the clever steamboatman, 
if the accommodations were not so good as might 
be obtained on one of Captain HonshelPs palace 
steamers which plowed the Ohio River. The cap- 
tain prospered, and was popular, not only on the 
river, but with his neighbors in Hampton City, 
where he built a commodious dwelling. 

His son, on reaching fourteen or fifteen years 
of age, showed signs of increasing obesity, which 
set in at infancy, and his parents and friends feared 
that it might prove troublesome ; but as he neared 
manhood he had grown to be as solid in flesh and 
supple in muscle as the average young man about 
town, and a great deal larger in size. Like his 
father, he was enamored of steamboating, and 
turned his whole mind and attention that way. 
Not forgetting, however, the Scriptural injunction 
that " it is not good for man to be alone/' he mar- 
ried a young lady of the highest respectability, 
born of one of the first families in the Lower 
Sandy Valley, and provided a home in the upper 
part of Catlettsburg, which is good enough for al- 
most any one to live in. 

By close application to business and good man- 
agement, he is now among the leading steamboat 
owners and operators at the Mouth, and is in 
mercantile business besides. He is a member of 



DANIEL B. VAUGHAN. 467 

the board of town trustees, and is an efficient 
worker in the same. He is justly regarded as one 
of the leading business men of Catlettsburg, and is 
growing in prominence. His wife is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and it is 
presumable that he agrees with her. In politics he 
is Democratic, yet has it in a milder form than his 
cousin afore-named. His father. Captain Alex- 
ander Smiley (for it is needless to say that the 
two Sandy cousins are Dr. M. L. and Captain 
William Smiley) died many years ago, leaving a 
widow, who still likes to entertain her Upper 
Sandy friends in her large boarding-house in Hamp- 
ton City, when they come down with their rafts on 
the Spring tides. The Sandy cousins are plucky 
fellows, and deserve the success which they enjoy. 



DANIEL B. VAUGHAN, 

Now living at Catlettsburg, came from Wood 
County, West Va., in 1843, and settled in Louisa, 
where he kept the ^^Big Hotel,'' and worked some 
at his trade, that of tailor. DanieFs grandfather 
Vaughan came with Daniel Vaughan from North Car- 
olina, and finally settled at or near Falmouth, Ky, 
Daniel's father, Atwell Boone, learned the trade 
of hatter, at Augusta, Ky., under Mr. Buckner, 
the father of the celebrated Dr. Buckner, of Cin- 
cinnati. When a young man he went to Wood 
County, Va., and married a Miss Butcher. The 



468 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

Butchers were a wealthy, aristocratic family, and 
DaniePs mother was quite well educated. Even in 
her extreme old age she gave evidence of refined 
training. Like all the Butchers and her husband's 
branch of the Vaughans, she was a strong Baptist. 
The good old lady died at her son William's, at 
the mouth of George's Creek, in 1886, aged eighty- 
nine years. The husband died at the commence- 
ment of the Civil War. 

Enoch Rector Vaughan, brother of Daniel, mar- 
ried a daughter of William Borders, of Paintsville, 
connecting by the alliance the house of Vaughan 
w^ith the Borders, the Mayos, and other noted fam- 
ilies in the valley. William, the youngest son, 
married a daughter of David Borders, Esq., this 
alliance connecting him to many important families 
in the valley. The sisters of Daniel and brothers 
have all died. 

Daniel Vaughan married a Miss Hanner, of 
Kanawha County, Va. They have two children, 
a son and a daughter. The son is like his father, 
partial to steamboating. The daughter is the 
wife of one of Catlettsburg's chief citizens. Judge 
R. B. McCall. 

AS STEAMBOATMAN, 

Daniel Vaughan commenced life on Sandy 
in 1852, by lUDuing the Tom Scott from the Mouth 
to Louisa. In the same year he built, owned, and 
commanded for a time the Am, soon putting W. 



DANIEL B. VAUGHAN. 469 

Fuse Davidson on the boat as master, who had 
previously acted as clerk, James R. Hatcher, a 
Sandy young man, going into the office to succeed 
Davidson. He was captain of other steamers. The 
last one he commanded was the Major O^Drain, 
which ran on the Sandy in 1860. Captain Daniel 
B. Vaughan has, in his day, built five large Ohio 
Steamers, and four smaller ones to run on Sandy. 
Com. \y. Fuse Davidson died a Christian gentle- 
man, and in worldly wealth a millionaire, at St. 
Paul, Minn., on the 26th May, 1887. 

Daniel Vaughan might have been a wealthy 
man, like his early friend and fellow-laborer. Com. 
Davidson; but Davidson was always a temperate 
man in his habits. Captain Vaughan went into 
partnership with King Alcohol when not forty. 
The tyrannical old tyrant robbed him of wealth, 
health, and business capacity. But having a grain 
of grit left, Daniel B. Vaughan asserted his man- 
hood, and rebelled against every thing that intoxi- 
cates in 1880, and started into business alone, 
asking, however, the favor of Heaven to rest 
upon him in his struggle with the craving old 
appetite for strong drink; and for six years and 
more not a drop of fire-water has entered his mouth 
to steal away his brains. At forty he was some- 
times called " Dan ;" at fifty he was called ^^ Uncle 
Dan;'' at sixty, "Old Dan Vaughan;" but now 
(1887) the good people tip their hats or wave their 
hands, and say when they pass him on the street. 



470 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

"Captain Yaughan/^ He is almost daily adding 
(it is true but a little at a time) to his worldly 
wealth; but if he lives to be as old as did his 
noble mother, he will become a wealthy man. 
He is now sixty-eight years old. He is not only a 
reformed man, but is a Christian in communion 
with the Baptist Church. 

Captain Vaughan says the best prohibitory law 
is the law of personal prohibition ; that if he can 
give up his cups, every man on Sandy can do like- 
wise. When he quit chewing tobacco recently, his 
wife feared that it was too much of a good thing, 
and that it might prostrate him. But the captain 
said : " Wife, God won't let me die in trying to do 
right. I want to part company with every filthy 
practice. '^ And he did. He said he asked the 
Father above to help him to break away from 
whisky, and he did. He asked him to help him to 
get rid of tobacco, and he came right along to his 
relief. Captain Daniel B. Vaughan is a hero. Not 
because he drank so much fire-water, but because 
he quit, and sticks to it. 



EUGENE GARY ELY 

Was a well-known Sandy steamboat clerk, for 
many years running in the trade from Catletts- 
burg to Pike, and from Catlettsburg to Louisa. 
He was a young man whom every body liked, 
being full of sunshine and cheerfulness in his 



BEN. BURK AND JOHN CRAB TREE. 471 

make-up, and as kind and gentle in his nature as 
a woman. He had his shortcomings, but they 
were merely the outcroppings of a too generous 
nature. He died with malarial fever, on his twenty- 
eighth birthday, December 15, 1879, at Catletts- 
lettsburg, Ky., greatly mourned by his numerous 
friends and relatives. 

Eugene's elder brother, William Wirt Ely, was 
for many years engaged in steamboating on Sandy 
and the Southern waters. He was a model young 
man in his morals, and never gave offense to any 
human being. By reverses in business his nervous 
system became impaired, and growing despondent, 
he raised the thin veil separating the life that now 
is from that which is to come, and passed away in 
1882, without an enemy in the world. 

These young men were both sons of the author, 
by his first wife. 

BEN. BURK AND JOHN CRABTREE. 

When the Civil War broke upon the country 
in 1861, Ben. Burk at once declared in favor of 
the old flag. This sentiment was heightened by 
the untimely death of his son. Major Bent. Burk, 
a few weeks after his enlistment in the Fourteenth 
Kentucky Infantry, Union army. The father loved 
his boy with all the intensity of feeling that char- 
acterized the king of Israel for his beautiful Absa- 
lom. Mr. Burk, somehow, charged the death of 



472 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

his son to Southern fury, although the young man 
died of typhoid fever. 

During the entire continuance of the struggle to 
set up a government in the South, Mr. Burk talked 
bitterly, yet never was known to do an unkind act 
or fail to grant a reasonable favor to any old friend, 
no matter how strong that friend's adherence to 
secession might be. 

John Crabtree was an old resident near Louisa, 
where Mr. Burk, for many years before moving to 
Catlettsburg, was a prominent merchant. Some 
time in the Fall of 1864, Esquire John Crabtree 
went to Catlettsburg with a push-boat, to get a 
threshing of wheat exchanged at Patton's mill for 
flour. When ready to leave the Mouth for home, 
he procured a pass from the provost marshaPs 
office on Front Street, to enable him to pass the 
sentinels on duty. While getting his pass, K. N. 
Harris, who was not only a Union man, but vin- 
dictive oftentimes in his utterances against Southern 
sympathizers, knowing Mr. Crabtree to be a Southern 
man in feeling, called him a vile name, for which 
the ^squire knocked him prone on the brick pave- 
ment. As soon as Mr. Harris was able to arise, 
with the assistance of help, he hurried away, and 
swore out a warrant for Crabtree's arrest; the war- 
rant was served immediately by the author of this 
book, who was the acting sheriff at the time. Mr. 
Crabtree was told to appear on the morrow at ten 
o'clock before Judge C. L. McConnell, whose office 



BEN. BURK AND JOHN CRAB TREE. 473 

at that time was the same now owned and occupied 
by R. C. Burns as a law office. Sharp at the hour 
named, judge, jury (of twelve discreet men), sheriff, 
prosecuting witness, and defendant were on hand, 
ready for the trial. Mr. Harris swore that, on the 
afternoon previous, John Crabtree, the defendant, 
committed an assault on him by hitting him and 
knocking him down, giving him great bodily pain. 
The court asked Mr. Harris if he wished to introduce 
witnesses to corroborate his own testimony. He said, 
"No, for most of the men on the jury were eye- 
witnesses to the assault.^' John Crabtree was then 
called forward, and asked if he had any witnesses he 
wished to have sworn. He replied, "No, that he 
admitted the offense as charged in the warrant, and 
that what Mr. Harris had stated was true, and all 
that he could ask of the jury was that they would 
not fine him more than they thought he deserved 
under the circumstances. '^ The case then closed, 
when the sheriff cleared the room of judge, plain- 
tiff, and defendant, so that the jury might make up 
their verdict without leaving their seats. The 
sheriff closed the door of the jury-room, and sat 
down on the step outside, to wait for the verdict. 
He could hear every word and movement going on 
within. Soon the voice of Esquire H. M. Honaker, 
one of the jury, rang out, urging his brother jurors 
to go to work and get through with the case, as 
he wished to return to his daily labor. After a 

short pause Ben. Burk, who also was on the jury, 

40 



474 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

in reply to what Honaker had uttered, said that 
" it would be well to get a piece of paper and write a 
little verdictJ' Footsteps were heard on the floor 
within, and a piece of paper was found and handed 
to a good penman, who was one of the twelve, when 
some one spoke up and said : " Mr. Burk, you have 
often been on juries, and you are the oldest man 
among us, and you must be the first to say what 
the verdict shall be/' From the number of re- 
sponses in favor of the suggestion, all must have 
assented. Mr. Burk spoke out firmly, and said: 
"Men, Kels Harris is as good a Union man as 
lives. John Crabtree gave him quite a jolt, and I 
feel sorry for Kels." He then paused as if fram- 
ing in his mind proper words to be said, and pro- 
ceded as follows : " Men, I have known John 
Crabtree ever since he and I were boys. I know 
that he is a sympathizer with the South, but he at- 
tends well to his own business. Men, a more hon- 
est man and clever man than John Crabtree does n't 
live on Sandy. Boys, let's not fine him any thing." 
And they all said, "Your verdict is ours." The 
verdict read as follows : 

" We, the jury in the case of the Commonwealth 
against John Crabtree, for assault on K. N. Harris, 
find for the defendant. 

Ben. Burk, Foreman." 

Be it said, to the honor of K. N. Harris, that 
he never fell out with his political friend, Burk, 



REV. JOHN JARRELL. 475 

for his action in this matter. All three of the 
actors are now sleeping in their graves, away from 
all strife and care. 

REV. THOMAS COPLEY, 

Of Wayne County, West Virginia, was an early 
inhabitant of the section where he lived so long 
and so honorably, and where his long and useful 
life ended but a few years ago. For nearly fifty 
years he was an able preacher in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, much of the time in the itiner- 
ant ranks. He left many descendants to imitate 
his holy life and pure example, living in Wayne 
County, West Va., and Martin County, Ky. Allen 
Copley, a bright lawyer at Eden, is third in descent 
from this good and noted man of God. Many of 
the Copleys have come to the front in political and 
public life. In the great Civil War all of them 
w^ere intensely loyal to the Government, and a 
number carried swords or muskets to defend its flag. 



REV. JOHN JARRELL, 

A PREACHER in the regular Baptist Church, while 
not so early in Wayne as Mr. Copley, was equally 
zealous in his labors in winning souls to Christ. 
This good man, for more than thirty years was a 
shining light to all around, as he labored, in 
season and out of season, to reconcile to God the 
people with whom he came in contact. His mother 



476 



THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



was of the house of Damron, and lie married a 
Miss Bromley, which connected him with the 
Damron, Bromley, and Short families — three very 
prominent houses in pioneer history. 



William Shannon, 
George F. Ratlifi*, . 

Ctiilders, . 

William E. Frazell, 
Eperson Fuller,. . 
Henry C. Duncan, 
James K. Weymer, 
Jacob Ross, . . . 



ROSTER CONTINUED. 
Lieutenant, 



Major, . . 
Captain, 



5th Virginia. 
39th Kentucky. 
39th Kentucky. 
5th Virginia. 
5th Virginia. 
5th Virginia. 
5th Virginia. 
45th Kentucky. 



A WAR PICTURE. 

Soon after the celebrated order of General Bur- 
bridge had been promulgated, to arrest all guerrillas, 
bushwhackers, and other suspected persons, and 
ordering them to be sent to the head-quarters of the 
commanding general for trial, and if found guilty 
of the cfime named, to suffer the penalty of death, 
inflicted by order of a court-martial, a painter, 
whose name is not remembered by the author, liv- 
ing for the time in Catlettsburg, but who a short 
time before had left New York City, having from 
that place, in the first flush of the war, enlisted in 
the celebrated Zouave regiment of one-year men, 
raised and commanded by "Billy Wilson,'^ was 
arrested by the order of of the provost marshal of 



A WAR PICTURE. 477 

Catlettsburg, a major of a Michigan regiment, with 
the intention of sending the man oif as coming un- 
der the description of men named in the order. 
Before the man, or, indeed, any others suspected or 
accused, could be sent away for military trial, the 
officer in charge had to procure the assent of at 
least five honorable and well-known citizens, to 
approve of the arrest and sending away of the 
accused, so that they might be summoned to give 
testimony before the military tribunal when the 
case was called. The provost marshal named came 
to the author of this book, who was well known 
for his loyalty to the government, and equally well 
known for his fairness in discriminating between a 
well-founded and a trumped-up charge, although 
by adhering to the moral right his own side in the 
conflict might be injured by his refusal to act in 
accordance to the dictates of some prejudiced officer. 
The worst that the gassy New Yorker had done 
to make him obnoxious to the provost marshal 
was in saying that "Billy Seward, of New York, 
would find himself mistaken, in saying that the 
rebellion would be put down in sixty days, for that 
the ex-soldier had fought three hundred and sixty- 
five days, and the war was going on all the same.'' 
It is supposed that the provost marshal at Catletts- 
burg obtained the signatures of the required num- 
ber of reliable men (perhaps by false statement), for 
it was given out that the prisoner (for he had been 
already arrested) would leave under a guard of 



478 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

soldiers the next day for Lexington, to stand his 
trial for bushwhacking. 

The whole affair looked so preposterous that the 
author wrote a letter, directed to the commanding 
officer at Lexington, giving a full statement of the 
case, and sent it by Captain HonshelPs steamer, 
immediately leaving for Cincinnati, with the urgent 
request that one of the clerks of the boat would 
mail it as soon as the steamer arrived at Cincinnati, 
so that it would be sure to reach Lexington before 
the prisoner and his guards got there. The scheme 
proved successful. The letter, fortunately, on arriv- 
ing at Lexington, fell into the hands of Colonel 
David A. Mims, of the Thirty-ninth Kentucky 
Infantry, who, for the time being, was holding the 
fort there. 

Colonel Mims, while intensely loyal, and ap- 
proving of the order to put down guerrilla w^arfare 
in Kentucky, not only as an act of justice, but of 
humanity as well, was nevertheless as fair a man as 
ever lived when called upon to decide the fate of 
a fellow-being. The statements of the letter, which 
were otherwise corroborated, induced him to see 
that the prisoner was set free. Giving him a pass, 
he reached Catlettsburg before his guards. This 
greatly chagrined the disappointed major, and he took 
every opportunity to heap indignities on the man who 
had headed him off in trying to do a mean act. The 
principal trouble with the New York painter was, 
that he talked too much, and said too little. 



A NOBLE ACT. 479 

However, since the extreme prejudice of that 
day has subsided by the lapse of time, many who 
thought it a terrible outrage against humanity to 
send from their homes such men as Bill Wright, 
Sid. and Dave Cook, and Jim Smith, to be shot as 
outlaws against God and man, have changed their 
opinions, knowing that had Bill Wright been exe- 
cuted for the murders already said to have been 
committed by him, he would not have been able to 
kill George Archer, nor have caused Archer^s friends 
all the trouble and anxiety of putting him out of 
the way as a common enemy of the human race ; and 
Jim Lyons should have suffered with Bill Wright, 
before he had had an opportunity to corrupt his little 
brother, who, following the example of the elder 
villains in crime, graduated on the same gallows 
with them, at eighteen years of age. 

Letting true humanity have fair play, especially 
if guided by Christian principles, is not so bad, 
after all. ^^ Honor to whom honor is due,'' if it 
does sometimes cause us to revise our opinions. 



A SANDY COUPLE'S NOBLE ACT. 

In about 1850 one of the most atrocious mur- 
ders ever read or heard of, was committed near 
Argolite, on the Little Sandy River, in Greenup 
County, Ky. A man by the name of Collins, with 
several accomplices, under the cover of a dark 
night, went to the house of a family by the name 



480 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

of Brewer, near by, and mnrdered in cold blood 
the husband and wife on the most flimsy pretense 
that could instigate to such a revolting deed. Sev- 
eral children, all small, were made orphans by the 
awful crime. The fiends were soon ferreted out, and 
brought to justice, three of them forfeiting their lives 
on the scaffold at Greenupsburg, and others finding 
a home for life in the State's prison at Frankfort. 
We remark, without giving details, that justice fol- 
lowed swiftly and surely the fiends who had so out- 
rageously violated the law of God and man. 

Great sympathy went out from the humane 
people to the little orphan children, and they were 
all taken in charge by Christian people, who were 
not only willing to train the little ones, but could 
be expected to do more, in some instances at least, 
for their temporal welfare, than could their natural 
parents, had they lived ; for the Brewers were poor 
folks. 

Elba Ulen and wife, living at Catlettsburg, and 
having no children, begged that they might be per- 
mitted to adopt two of the children. This favor 
was granted to the kind-hearted pair, who took 
James and Annie, brother and sister, children of 
the murdered pair, and reared them as tenderly as 
if they had been bone of their bone and flesh of 
their flesh. The children grew up to manhood and 
womanhood, the idols of the adopted father and 
mother, and greatly respected for the Christian 
graces that reflected their superior training. 



MANY THINGS. 481 

The foster father and mother gave each of the 
young people a good scholastic education, sending 
James away to college to finish his course. When 
just stepping out on life's scene of business, he was 
stricken with pulmonary trouble, which soon put an 
end to his happy life, made so by the teachings of 
the Ulens. His sister Annie, not many years after, 
followed her brother to the Celestial City, where 
the wicked cease from troubling, but where no 
doubt she and her loving brother James will give 
their dearly loved foster father and mother a 
happy greeting on the sunlit shore. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ulen still talk in a low voice 
when any reference is made to the death of James 
and Annie. The children were dearer to them 
than rubies. 

MANY THINGS. 

The most commodious stone house in the Sandy 
Valley is the residence of Hon. Ulysses Garred, of 
Lawrence. 

The only stone church in the Valley is Stairs 
Chapel, on Pigeon, Logan County, West Va. The 
neatest log church in the valley is Borders Chapel, 
on the edge of Lawrence and Johnson. 

The finest court-house in the valley is at Louisa. 

The largest and most costly public-school building 

in the valley is at Catlettsburg. The largest and 

most extensive private school property in the valley 

is the Normal at Catlettsburg. The most imposing 

41 



482 THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 

public-school building, built of wood, is in Sandy 
City, a suburb of Catlettsburg. 

The oldest lodge of Masons in the valley is at 
Prestonburg. The oldest lodge of Odd Fellows is 
at Catlettsburg. The Odd Fellow in the valley 
who has been longest a member of the order with- 
out a break, is the author of this book. 

The first wedding occurring in a church in the 
valley came off in the Methodist Episcopal Church 
at Catlettsburg, July 16, 1862, the contracting 
parties being William Ely and Trinvilla J. Walter 

The most considerable falls on any stream in 
the valley are the Falls of Blaine. 

The largest and most wonderful gas- well south 
of Mason and Dixon's line is located in Martin 
County, Kentucky, on the Tug River, at Warfield. 

The most prolific salt-well in the valley is in Mar- 
tin County. More salt has been made in Floyd, 
on Middle Creek, than any place in the valley. 

The most noted natural object in the valley is 
" Duty's Knob,'' near Pikeville, Ky. 

The town in the Sandy Valley, or bordering 
on the same, outside of Catlettsburg, doing the 
largest manufacturing business, is Salyersville. 

The handsomest lawyer's office in the valley is 
that of Walter S. Harkins, in Prestonburg. 

The oldest teacher (who has taught for fifty 
years) is Joseph West, of Martin County. 

The oldest militia officer now living in the val- 
ley is General Hager, of Johnson County. 



PUBLIC LIFE OF J, M. BURNS. 483 

PUBLIC LIFE OF J. M. BURNS. 

Hon. John M. Burns, who studied law under 
his brother, W. H. Burns, at West Liberty, Ky., 
was admitted to the bar in 1851, and formed a 
partnership with his preceptor in the practice of 
their profession, which continued near three years. 
W. H. Burns, at the time resided in West Liberty, 
and John M. in Whitesburg, Letcher County, their 
practice and partnership embracing Letcher, Perry, 
and Breathitt Counties. John M. was elected 
county attorney in Letcher County, and served 
with ability in the office until December, 1853, 
when he moved to Prestonburg, Floyd County, Ky. 
With this removal the partnership of W. H. and 
John M. Burns terminated. 

John M. Burns then and there formed a partner- 
ship with the lamented Judge John M. Elliott, which 
continued for six years. They had a lucrative 
practice. While this partnership existed John M. 
Burns, in 1857, was elected to the Legislature of 
Kentucky from his district, then composed of Floyd 
and Johnson Counties. He served in that body 
with industry, and manifested ready powers in de- 
bate and legislative capacity. In 1860, in the 
begining of our internecine troubles, John M. 
Burns was nominated, and made the race, foi the 
Senate of Kentucky in the then Thirty-third Sen- 
atorial District of the State, against Hon. Thomas 
S. Brown. The Senatorial District was composed 



484 THE BIG SAND Y VALLE Y. 

of the counties of Pike, Floyd, Johnson, and 
Magoffin. Mr. Burns was elected by a large ma- 
jority, took his seat in the Senate, and served a 
month there with marked ability. When it was 
discovered, in the apportionment of representa-^ 
tives for the State at a previous session of the Leg- 
islature, that the Senate had in its body too many 
members by one, Mr. Burns resigned his seat in 
that body and delivered one of the most elegant 
and amusing valedictories ever heard, eliciting 
laughter, tears, and praise from members and gal- 
leries. 

Mr. Burns returned to his home, and practiced 
his profession from this time until actual hostilities 
began between the sections. His profession of 
the law and lecturing on education, even up to 
1864, engaged most of his time in Floyd County. 
In 1864 he moved to Catlettsburg. He served as 
school commissioner of Boyd County for two terms, 
lecturing on education in every school district in 
the county, each year he held the office. 

In 1867 Mr. Burns ran for the office of Com- 
mon wealth\s attorney for the Sixteenth District 
against Judge James E. Stewart, and was defeated 
by a reduced political majority. In 1876 he again 
made the race against the same gentleman for the 
office of Criminal Court judge in the same district. 
In 1880 he made the race for the office of Circuit 
Court judge in the same district against Hon. G. N. 
Brown,^ wealthy and influential man, and was again 



THE HO USE OF THE A UXIERS. 485 

defeated. In 1886 he again ran for the office of Cir- 
cuit Court judge in the same district, against Hon. 
George N. Brown, the same man, then incumbent 
of the office, and, although only in the active can- 
,vass twenty-four days, made apparently his last 
fight as gallantly as his first, and was triumphantly 
elected. At each and all of the races made by Mr. 
Burns, since 1864, he ran as a Republican, and was 
at each race, although poor, required by his party 
to make each canvass to his own financial detri- 
ment; yet he yielded to the wish of his party to 
uphold its principles. Mr. Burns's ability on the 
stump and in debate gave him the preference in his 
party, and induced his frequent candidacies, often 
against his judgment and to his financial embarrass- 
ment. He now holds the office of Circuit Court 
judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District, composed 
of the counties of Boyd, Carter, Lawrence, Martin, 
Johnson, Floyd, and Pike, and is serving the 
people faithfully and acceptably. 



LINEAGE OF THE HOUSE OF THE AUXIERS, 
Of Block-house Bottom, on Sandy. 

My father married Rebecca Phillips in 1813. 
They had eleven children, as follows, viz.: Nat, 
John B., Jemima, George W., Sarah, Joseph, Sam- 
uel, Rebecca, Martha J., Araminta, and Henry J. 
Thenmy mother died September 20, 1835, and he 



486 THE BIG SAND Y VALLEY. 

married Agnes Wells, his second wife. They had 
the following children, viz.: Margaret, Elijah 
B., William L., J. K. Polk, and Ann — sixteen in 
all — thirteen still living. Father died December 
13, 1883, having lived on the same farm since 1795. 
Nat. married Hester Ann Mayo ; John B., Ange- 
lina Mayo, and for second wife, Mary A. Grayson ; 
Jemima was married to John Prater; George W. 
to Nancy Prater; Sarah to G. W. Mayo; second, 
to Martin Lesley ; and third, to James Denton ; Jo- 
seph K., to Jane Walker; Samuel, to Bebecca 
Mayo; Rebecca, to Thomas Prater; Martha, to 
Henry Walker ; Araminta, to James Nibert ; Henry 
J., to Harriet Musick ; Margaret to L. D. Cham- 
bers ; Elijah B., to Margaret Richmond ; William 
L., to Louisa Ford ; J. K. P., to Emma Spradlin ; 
and Ann, to John Richmond. 

My grandmother was a Brown, the daughter of 
Nathaniel Brown, brother to Thomas C. Brown, 
who was the grandfather of W. W. Brown, now liv- 
ing in Paintsville. They were an English family. 
Grandmother died about the beginning of our late 
Rebellion, aged ninety-nine years. 

John. B. Auxier. 



WHY SO? 



We conceded the post of honor to our pub- 
lisher, Rev. Z. Meek, D. D., by placing his superb 
likeness the first in the book as the frontispiece. 



THE MONT AG UES. 487 

The author thought he deserved it by coming to 
his aid in bringing out the book. 

The Authoe, 

THE MONTAGUES 

For twenty-five years have been a noted family 
near to, or at, the Mouth of Sandy. Especially has 
W. W. Montague, who died at eighty-four years of 
age, in Catlettsburg, in 1886, been a historic 
character. He filled the office of constable for a 
period of more than thirty-five years, part in Mason 
County, where he lived before coming to Sandy. 
He was jailer for one term in Boyd County. 

He was the most bitter and uncompromising 
partisan who ever lived on Sandy, and was equally 
bitter in his advocacy of the tenets of the Church 
of which he was a member — the Campbell ite, or 
Christian. He often said that no matter who his 
party might nominate for office, he would support 
the nominee without question. Yet with all of his 
bitterness he was a man, socially, of the kindliest 
feelings; and while a great party worker and poli- 
tician, he hated, with a perfect hatred, the whisky- 
seller, and pitied the poor drunkard, never advising 
the use of whisky in promoting his party^s inter- 
est. He was an honest, fearless man. 

His family of sons and daughters have all come 
to honor. One son, John J. Montague, is now fill- 
ing his second term as county attorney of Boyd. 
Philip, the youngest, has for a long time been the 



488 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY. 

popular conductor on the Chatterawha Railroad. 
Polk, the other son, is engaged in railroading. Two 
of. the daughters married noted preachers. 

The whole family, while in political matters 
Democrats, like their father, yet unlike him, are 
noted for their courtesy to those who differ from 
them in political opinions. 



THE EASTHAM FAMILY 

Is ONE of more than ordinary note in the Lower 
Sandy Valley. Many of them have filled official 
positions in the counties of Lawrence and Boyd. 
John H. Eastham, of Boyd, represented his county 
and Carter in the Legislature of the State. He 
has also been sheriff" for two terms, and afterwards 
county judge. His nephew, Robert Eastham, was 
once sheriff" of Lawrence County, and, after moving 
to Boyd County, was a leading timber-trader. An- 
other nephew, John C. Eastham, filled the office of 
sheriff" of Boyd for two terms; and still another 
nephew, Robert by name, was at one time sheriff^ 
of Boyd. D. D. Eastham, a son of John C. East- 
ham, is now serving his second term as county school 
superintendent of Boyd County. He is a promis- 
ing lawyer of the Catlettsburg bar. John H. East- 
ham is a Republican in politics. The others named 
are all Democrats. 



THE CASSADYS. 489 

THE CASSADYS, 

Of Martin, are a strong family in the valley. The 
father of Philip Cassady and brothers came to the 
Lower Tug country about 1837, from Tazewell 
County, Va. Philip Cassady has been from young 
manhood a live business man in the valley of Rock 
Castle. He has not only distinguished himself as a 
business man of integrity and honor, but has filled 
many official places in his county with credit to 
himself and advantage to his constituents. His 
brothers are also among Martin County's promi- 
nent people. The Cassadys are a well-educated 
people, qualifying them for foremost places in the 

aifairs of life. 

42 



CONCLUSION. 



Lack of further space admonishes us that ^^ The 
Big Sandy Valley'' and the history of its people 
must close. This work was undertaken by the 
author with a full realization of the fact that to 
collect material of sufficient importance to the pub- 
lic at large, to fill a volume of five hundred pages, 
was a work of great labor. The reader will learn 
by referring to the preface to the book, that it was 
not intended, neither was it possible, to take up 
the beginning of Sandy history from the time the 
Vancoovers,. in 1789, built two. forts or block- 
houses on the point of land where the Levisa and 
Tug Rivers join, and nearly at the same time the 
Leslies assayed to make a settlement at the mouth 
of Pond Creek, on the Tug River, and in one con- 
tinuous chain connect, in chronological order, each 
event as it took place, as each settler followed on 
the footsteps of his predecessor into the valley ; 
nor, as was further stated, have we searched the 
records of the different counties to discover who 
were, at different times, elected to fill the various 
county. State, and national offices, for the reason 
that those facts are always at hand on the records 
of the county and other courts, or may be found 



CONCLUSION. 401 

among the archives at Frankfort. Rather have we, 
as promised, recorded the important events con- 
nected with the early settlement of the valley in 
the order coming to us through diligent and pa- 
tient research, embracing, as the chief aim, a desire 
to snatch from oblivion the personal and family 
history of the people of the valley, while by no 
means ignoring the political history when the indi- 
vidual acts of the people might be more promi- 
nently brought forth. In every case, however, we 
have given dates as near as could be ascertained by 
the closest inquiry and research. 

In preparing these pages we have met with in- 
numerable difficulties, and have had to overcome 
them by increased labor and physical toil, travel- 
ing hundreds of miles, and sending out numerous 
appeals to those who, we thought, might be able 
and willing to give any information throwing light 
on the subject undertaken by the author, for the 
benefit of the people of the Big Sandy Valley. 
Had all of those whom we personally solicited, or 
to whom we sent letters of inquiry, been prompt 
in responding, the book would, no doubt, be more 
interesting than it is. 

The author, however, is placed under great obli- 
gations to Colonel John Dils, Jr., of Pikeville, for 
the graphic article he furnished on the middle period 
of Big Sandy history, embracing the historical acts of 
quite a number of well-known men and families 
who have been an honor to the valley. 



492 THE BIO SANDY VALLEY, 

To Captain John B. Goff, of Big Creek, Pike 
County, we return thanks for favors bestowed. 

Major John B. Auxier, of East Point, has con- 
tributed valuable information, connected with his 
own personal experience and obtained from the lips 
of his father, the late Samuel Auxier, of Block- 
house Bottom, and from General Daniel Hager, 
and the general's venerable mother, a lady of strong 
mind and character, possessing a retentive memory, 
who lived to a time remembered by many people 
still living in the section where she spent her long 
and useful life. 

Allen Hatton, of Rockville, Lawrence County, 
added much information, as also did Rev. R. D. Calli- 
han and Samuel P. Hager, Esq., of Ashland, Ky. 

Dr. Dickson, of Johnson County, helped much 
in furnishing facts and dates of the early history of 
the valley. 

Mrs. Matilda Rice, of Catlettsburg, deserves 
honorable mention for like favors. 

K. F. Leslie, of Graham's Place, Floyd County, 
also has our thanks for assistance in many ways. 

Hon. R. H. Weddington furnished a long and 
valuable paper on the early history of his house 
and collaterals; but unfortunately the article, unin- 
tentionally, was lost or misplaced, and was after- 
wards reproduced from memory, robbing it of much 
of its intrinsic value. 

Robert A. Preston, of Richardson, has aided 
materially in the way of statistics. 



CONCLUSION. 493 

To Eev. Z. Meek, D. D., the author is under 
lasting gratitude for preparing the sketch of the 
capture, by the Indians, of Jenny Wiley, and her 
escape from them to her friends at the Block-house, 
now Johnson County, Kentucky. The reverend 
gentleman having been born and having lived to 
manhood near the place where Mrs. Wiley resided, 
and being connected with her by marriage, is able, 
more accurately than most others, to give all the 
facts connected with the noted woman's awful trials. 

Our labor for years in the preparation of this 
work, in the interim of pressing cares and prostra- 
tion by almost continuous feeble health, has not been 
without its joys, in the hope that we were engaged 
in a task that would add, in some degree, to the 
material, intellectual, and moral advancement of the 
people of the Sandy Valley, the heroic deeds of 
whose ancestors has been the basis of all that is 
recorded in these pages. The Author. 



PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. 



It is due to the reader that we should say some 
errors crept into this book, either by oversight or 
otherwise. To issue so large a book without errors, 
especially by those new to the business of book- 
making, could hardly be expected. 

In referring to the counties of Johnson and 
Floyd, their political complexion was reversed, by 
the use of the word latter y instead oi former. 

In the article on the Hager family, Reuben 
Patrick was the name intended, but that of Elijah 
managed to get in somehow. 

The article on the Hattons reads grandfather, 
in speaking of J. F. Hatton, when it should have 
been father. 

Brother slipped in where it should have been 
soUy in the article on the Auxier family, referring 
to the death of little 'Lige. 

Further we need not particularize. There is 
some duplication of matter, caused by the author's 
forwarding copy to the printers direct, which was 
not seen by the publisher until after the articles 
were in type. 

One other matter deserves notice. The arrange- 
ment of the book is not just as we would have had 
it; but it required several hundred more pages of 
manuscript than we calculated on to fill the space; 
hence, a proper classification could not be made. 

We bespeak for this book a large sale, and hearty 

appreciation by the people. Publisher. 

494 



GENERAL INDEX. 



PAGES, 

AuxTERS, The 103-485 

Adams, Alexander E... 195-439 

Andrews Family 238-256 

A National Bank 284 

Ashland 319 

Archer, George P 337 

A Close Call 388 

Adams Family 396 

Attorneys, Prosecuting... 438 

Auxier, A. J 439 

Army, Officers of 447-476 

A War Picture 476 

A Sandy Couple's Noble 
Act 479 

Big Sandy Valley 16 

Biggs, William 31 

Burns Family 115 

Burns, J. M., Public Life 

of 483 

Borders Family 119 

Borders, Archibald 121 

Banfield, A. P 185 

Burchett, D. J 224 

Burgess Family 225 

Bartrams, The 227 

Bryans, The 229 

Browns,The(of Boyd) 230 

Browns,The (of Johnson) 233 
Bruns, William and Fred. 235 

Bloomer, Daniel 236 

Bevens Family 237 

Barbee, Felix A 252 

Ben Burk's Bank 281 

Brubaker, Crate 291 



PAGES. 

Bowles, 0. C 323-411 

Bright Young Men 361 

Bootens, The 402 

Booten, Ralph 403 

Big Sandy Mail 415 

Burns, J. Harvey 433 

Boggs, Hugh 443 

Beutleys, The 445 

Burtons, The 447 

Brunings, The 460 

Botts, Aleck 461 

Burk, Ben, and Crabtree, 
John 471 

COAL-OIL 22 

Castle Family 90 

Callihan, R. D 138 

Catletts, The 167 

Clark, John 173 

Clinefelter, Thomas 181 

Canterburys, The 189 

Chapman Family 191 

Cecils, The ' 193 

Cyrus Family 194 

Crum Family 241 

Catlettsburg 269-319-342 

Catlettsburg, Churches.... 279 

Schools 279 

Benefactors 280 

Banks 281 

National Bank 284 

Fires 269-342-351 

New Enterprises 349 

Campbell, A. C 289 

Coal Industries 308 

495 



496 



GENERAL INDEX. 



PAGES. 

Carlisle, John 317 

Cook, John 379 

Clarks (of Pigeon) 406 

Coleman, Rev 434 

Cecil, G. J 439 

Colemans, The 440 

Conleys, The 441 

Clines, The 445 

Callihan, Dr 446 

Carters, The 446 

Crabtree, John 471 

Copley, Tho 475 

Cassadys 489 

Conclusion 491 

DiLS, John, Jr 45 

Davidson, Samuel 128 

Davidson, Joseph M 129 

Dean, Job 187 

Dixon Family 188 

Deerings, The 190 

Delongs, The 387 

Doctors, The 437 

EwiNG, Joseph 169 

Ellingtons, The 189 

Elliott, John M 209 

Endicotts, The 209 

Eden 295 

Eba, D. W 350 

Elk Horn Creek 412 

Ely, Eugene Carv 470 

Ely, William Wirt 471 

Eastham Family 488 

First Settlement op 

Sandy 11 

Ferguson, M.J 131 

Ferguson, S. M 154 

Fry and Sisters 168 

Faulkner, James and John, 181 

Ford, John Henry 207 

Ferguson, J. Lee 208 

Fires, in Catlettsburg...269-342 

Forbes, Col. A 321 

Ferguson, Milton, Sr 376 



PAGES. 

Ferguson, Laura 378 

Free-will Baptists 430 

Ferrells, The 446 

Gallup, G.W 41 

Garred Family 134 

Goff, John B 135 

Gardner, Joseph 206 

Gardner, Washington 206 

Graham, John. 358 

Gobies, The (of Lawrence) 367 

Goble, Montraville 309 

Garrett, T. F 434 

Gobies (of Floyd) 441 

Gray, E. A 446 

Hagkr Family 142 

Hamptons, The 171 

Howes Family 200 

Hatfield Family 202 

Holbrook Family 204 

Hatchers, The 205 

Hatton Family 214 

Harris Family 218 

Harkins Family 247 

Henderson Family 253 

Hampton, Levi J 254 

Honshell, Wash 260 

Hatton, Buscom 291 

Hindman 302 

Hanging of Bill Wright 

and others 341 

Hacknev, Tom 410 

Hagt-r, J. H 433 

Howes, C. J. & G. W 434 

Hampton, J. W 434 

Harts, The 442 

Huff, J. W 444 

Harris, K. N 471 

Introduction 5 

Ivy Mountain Battle 298 

Indian Grave-yards 458 

Johns Family 214 

Johns, Daniel 366 



GENERAL INDEX. 



497 



PAGES. 

Jayne, William 434 

Judiciary, The 438 

Justices, The 446 

Jarrell, John 475 

KiBBE, M. L 178 

Kincaid, J. D 183 

Kinner Family 212 

Kinner, S. G... 213 

Kinner, David 355 

Keel, Samuel. 442 

Kirk, Capt. Jo 445 

Lackey Family 124 

Lackey, Morgan 125 

Lackey, Greenville 126 

Leslie Family 210 

Langley, John W 222-439 

Lockwood Family 242 

Louisa 292-319 

Literal, Austin 397 

L^wsons, The 408 

Lawyers, The 435 

Moore, Frederick and 

Family 28 

Moore, Laban T 35 

Moore, William 36 

McConnell, John M... 57-64- 69 

Marr Family 81 

May Family 82 

Mayo Family 83 

Mims, John D 99 

Marcum, T. D 101-438 

Meek, Z 110-433 

Martin, John P 126 

Martin, Alexander L 127 

Murphy Family 179-263 

McCoy, James 180 

MiSorley, James 236 

McCalls,The 236 

McCall, Robert B 237 

Medley, J. F. 239 

McClure Family 245 

Morgan, David's Family.. 256 
Martinsburg 2^5 



PAGES. 

Middle Creek Battle 299 

Morgan, David 237 

Morse, A. F 350 

McKenzie, James 353 

More About Magoffin 394 

McGuires, of Lawrence... 404 

Methodist E. Church 426 

" " " South 426 

Maynards, The 445 

Many Things 481 

Montagues 487 

Navigation 19 

Newman Family 190 

Northup, Col. J. H 320-323 

Newspapers of Sandy 328 

Obrian, Byron 164 

Ohio River Flood, 1883,... 272 
1884,... 273 

Osborn,Ed 337 

Osborn, Jerry 412 

Office-holders 437 

Old-time Incidents 440 

Osborn, Walter 443 

Officers of the Army, 447-476 

Preface 3 

Pioneer Clothing 12 

Potter'sClay 22 

Pioneer Preachers 23 

Preston Family 72 

Preston, Moses 76 

Prominent Physicians 182 

Patton, Johns 218 

Preston, Arthur 220 

Pattons,The(of Boyd).... 221 
Poage, William's Family 251 

Pelphreys, The 256 

Prichard, R. H 289 

Prichard, Lewis 291 

Paintsville 293 

Prestonburg 297 

Pikeville 303 

Pictorial Embellishments 305 
Peach Orchard 309 



498 



GENERAL INDEX. 



PAGES. 

Peach Orchard Coal 318 

Political Convention 364 

Prichard, K. F 374 

Patrick Family 395 

Patrick, Wiley 395 

Praters, The 395 

Powers, The 395 

Porter, Samuel and Fam- 
ily 400 

Peters Family 406 

Preachers, The Early 432 

Pickelsimers, The 441 

Peck, George 442 

Parsleys, The 444 

Pubiistier's Notice 494 

EicE Family 55 

Rice Family (of Johnson) 66 

Richardson, John N 67 

Ratliff Family 97 

Runyons, The 98 

Richmond, James 99 

Rule Family 99 

Russell, John 288 

Richardson 293 

Richardson, Geo. S 313 

Reily, James W 361 

Rutherfords, The 409 

Robinsons, The 442 

Salt Springs and \^ ells 26 

Savage, S. S 39 

Sweatnum, Neri 84 

Stewart, J. Frew 87 

Stein, Albin. 88 

Spradling, Benjamin 90 

Stepps (of Martin) 91 

Scott Family 91 

Staffords 92 

Smith, John 93 

Stewart Family (of Boyd) 95 

Stewart, James E 96 

Shortridge Family 165 

Sandy Wash-out 270 

Salyersville 296 

Small-pox in Floyd 300 



PAGES. 

Stewart, Dr. A.. 300 

Sandy Timber Trade 322 

Sands, William 361 

Strong, W. Mait 361 

Sovain, Henry 371 

" Mary Jane 371 

Millie 371 

Sweatnum, Dr. J. M 382 

Shearer, Rev. Walter 382 

Salyers Family 397 

Stairs, James 407 

Smiths (of Tug) 409 

Slaters, The 410 

Savage, Pleasant 420 

Sandy Valley Progress... 430 

Sandians, The 438 

Strattons, The 440 

Shannons, The 443 

Sweatnum, H. S 446 

Steel, John 446 

Sparks (of Lawrence) 447 

Smiley, M.L 463 

Smiley, William 463 

The Store Dress 14 

Thrilling Adventure 15 

Teachers of Early Days... 25 

Thornton, E. C 161 

Trimble, James 290 

Tell-tale Coat 337 

Turmans, The 362 

Two Historic Sisters 371 

Turner, James 397 

Taylors, The 410 

Then and Now 415 

The Great Flight 417 

TomUnson, A. A 422 

Two Churches 426 

Two New Churches........ 429 

Two Sandy Cousins 463 

Ulen Family 159 

United Baptists 430 

United States Govern- 
ment Officers 439 

Ulen, Elba and Wife 480 



GENERAL INDEX. 



499 



PAGES. 

Vinson Family 156 

Vinson, Goble and Prich- 

ard 325 

Vaughans,The 442 

Vaughan, Daniel B 467 

What the People Eat... 13 

Witten, Thomas 130 

Walton, L.D.. 146 

Williamsons, The 148 

Walter, Samuel T 150 

Weddington, R. M. and 

family 151 

Wards, The 155 

Williamson, John 1 156 

Wellmans,The 246 

Wilson & Andrews's Bank 281 



PAGES. 

Witten & Davidson's Bank 283 

West Liberty 297 

Williamson & Hampton.. 326 

War Meeting 334 

Wellman, Samuel 381 

Walter Family 398 

Wheelers, The 399 

Wheeler, Daniel 400 

Wiley, Jenny, Capture... 450 

Escape 453 

" " Family.... 455 

Wells Family 459 

Why So? 486 

YoRKS, The 446 

Zeigler, John L 421 



INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PORTRAITS. 



PAGES. 

AuxiER, Nathaniel 108 

Adams, Alexander E 196 

Burns, John M.... 118 

Borders, Archibald 119 

Banfield, A.P 186 

Burchett, D. J 224 

Barbee, Felix A 252 

Crum, William 241 

DiLS, John, Jr 45 

Ely,W 5 

Ferguson, M.J 131 

Ferguson, J. Lee 208 

Gallup, G.W 42 

Goff, John B 136 

Goff, John B. and Daugh- 
ters 137 

Hager, Daniel 143 

Hampton, William 172 

Hampton, Mrs. William- 173 



PAGES. 

Harkins, John 248 

Harkins, Walter S 249 



KiNCAID, J. D 

Langley, John W. 



183 
223 



Meek, Zephaniah 1 

Moore, Frederick 29 

Marcum, T. D 101 



Northup, J. H. 



320 



Preston, Moses 77 

Patton, John S 219 

Preston, Arthur 220 

Richardson, George S... 314 

Stewart,«J. Frew 87 

Stein, Albin 89 

Vinson, S. S 158 

Williamson, Ben 149 

Weddington, R. M 153 



BUILDINGS. 



Catl tsburg National 
Bank 285 

DiLS, John, Jr., Residence 46 

Harkins, Walter S., Law 

Office 250 

500 



Lockwood, John, Resi- 
dence 244 

Preston, Frank, Resi- 
dence 80 



U 



9 66 



G 



